Last Friday the temperatures went just a little above 30 degrees Celsius here in the Netherlands. The kind of heat that is very rare for us — shockingly so almost — even in summer.
That unusual weather was all over the news. Scene of children in pools, running through sprinklers, playing with water guns. Full terraces. Parks crowded with half naked sun worshippers. The works. Everybody, of course, (yes, my family included) had to barbecue. The neighbor lady (don’t approve) even kept her kids home from school just so she could set up a pool for them, which is now covered and collecting dust.
We don’t have many of those so-called ‘tropical’ days here, so when we do, we live it up. By the way, I didn’t make up that term. ‘Tropical’ starts at above 40 degrees Celsius as far as I’m concerned. When I lived in New Jersey, that was the norm from May until October. No one ever called that ‘tropical’.
On those rare Dutch ‘tropical’ days, nothing beats a proper picnic for lunch. Fresh fruit, some olives, perhaps a nice hard cheese, bread, a terrine… I can think of so many things loved by that insulated pink picnic bag of mine. But one of my favorite treats is a French pan-bagnat.
(more…)
In one of my previous posts, I promised you a variation of my pan-bagnat, a sandwich originating in Nice composed of bread ‘bathed’ in the ingredients mainly found in the popular salade niçoise. The recipe can be a major of source of debate. Which ingredients are traditional? How much dressing? Anchovies or no anchovies? Egg or no egg? But we won’t worry about that for now. We’ll just take the idea and give it any fanciful twist we like!