Pan Bagnat

I am, to put it simply, obsessed with this sandwich. Cannot get enough of it! The fresh, juicy tomatoes, tuna mixed with a home-made vinaigrette, capers, celery, sliced boiled egg... And two secret ingredients, my own herbs de provence mix, and anchovy paste.

I know, right? Anchovy paste, ewww! Well, I've yet to actually eat an anchovy, but the paste adds something special to recipes. It's commonly used in Cesar salad dressings. If you're at a nice Italian restaurant, for instance, and the dressing there has a certain, savory quality that you just can't find in the store bought Cesar dressings, that's the difference. Anchovy paste! No grocer in Owensboro carries Anchovy paste, naturally, so I ordered it from Au Marche, an online European grocer. I also purchased the lavender for my herbs de provence mixture, and Cornichons, a French cucumber pickle.

Cornichons are a small, French style Gherkin. Its flavor is rather like a cross between a dill and sweet American pickles. No sweetness, but they are spicy and sour. Turns out, I LOVE them. Can't get enough of the little things! Never really saw myself as a sour food eater, but I'm wrong. Capers, lemon juice, vinegar and cornichons. All sour. All get a big *heart* from me.

Pan Bagnat translates to a 'bathed' or 'wet' sandwich. The tough beignettes are given time to absorb the juices from the tuna salad mix and the tomatoes, softening up the bread. It's delicious and amazing. The Pan Bagnat reminds me of Nicoise salad, only on bread. Most recipes call for olives, but because I'm not fond of the fruit, I left it off.

For the vinaigrette, you'll need a lemon, white wine vinegar (red wine or sherry vinegar will also work), herbs de provence, a shallot, dijon mustard, and capers. Finely dice the shallot, mix together all the ingredients, and allow the lemon juice and vinegar to semi-pickle the shallots. This is a classic vinaigrette, and goes very well on all sorts of foods. 

Sandwich assembly goes like this: mix your vinaigrette, let it sit. Then add the celery, onion, capers and tuna. Set aside.

Your eggs should already be boiled and sliced. Tomatoes should also be chopped. Cut the cornichons in half lengthwise, roughly chop romaine lettuce. Assemble whatever other goodies you want on your 'wich, like olives, green pepper, radishes, etc.

Once the prep work is done, cut the beignette into fourths. Cut each fourth in half, lengthwise. Take the bottom half, and remove some of the breading. Carefully place a layer of tomatoes down, into the area where the bread has been removed. Then place lettuce.

On top of tomato/lettuce, place the eggs, cornichons, green pepper, etc. The tuna mixture should be the last addition, so that it touches the top piece of bread. Place the top half on, and carefully wrap it up into wax paper. Repeat with each loaf chunk. Place in fridge, and allow to sit for at least an hour. Eat!

Make sure to have napkin and fork on hand, because these sandwiches are quite sloppy.

Herbs de Provence

French food, and cooking, is something I've only spent a small amount of time on. I make a mean Coq au Vin, but that's about it. I like French wine, does that count too?

This recipe is the most famous of French herb mixes. It will be needed if you want to make my most recent eating passion, Pan Bagnat. And it's also perfect for the theme of this blog, which is how to handle not having unusual ingredients easily available in town. (In this case, the dried lavender flowers.) I purchased the flowers online, from a grocery store called Au Marche. Quick delivery, excellent quality items. Wish I could go to the actual store itself!

There are 10 different types of herbs in this mix. I had to buy 5 fresh off the shelves just for this: Tarragon, Marjoram, dried Rosemary (I keep a bush in the back yard for fresh), Summer Savory, and of course the Lavender. My friend JH asked if it was my '$65 herb mix'. Oh, the painful stab of truth! Yeah, JH, it is. It is. More expensive than that, honestly. *sigh* Whoever said cooking at home is cheap? (Actually, cooking at home IS cheaper. It's the building up of the pantry that's expensive!)

This mix makes enough to last a looooong time. Herbs de Provence possesses a wonderful scent. Reminds me of summer fields, when they are ready for baling, back in Nebraska. (This thought then makes me groan, as I remember how hot, difficult and itchy baling hay is.)

Dried savory, or dried summer savory as its also called, is similar to sage. It is NOT a reference to savory flavoring.

I've been placing this stuff on just about everything lately! Fish. Potato salad. Be creative!

Also, a Princess pic. Because she's just so darn cute! Not supposed to have milk, but she really, really, really, reeeeaaaaally wanted it.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Burger

Summer is here, baby! At long last, the heat has come out. It gets steamy here in Kentucky, and the rain fall can be incredible! (The humidity is so thick, that sometimes, when you're running your air conditioning in the car, it starts to SWEAT on the outside of the vehicle. Like your ice cold soda pop glass. Crazy.)

In honor of the heat, I made a meal with a powerful hot pepper-powered punch, Jerk Chicken Burgers. These things were awesome! And really not that difficult to make. Don't be intimidated by the ingredient list. Assembly is simple, and you can be eating in about 30 minutes.

Jamaican Jerk is a barbeque glaze made with allspice and Scotch Bonnet Peppers, which are some of the hottest peppers in the world. No, you're not going to be finding any Scotch Bonnie's here in Owensboro, KY, Small City USA. So, instead of chopping up one of those bad boys, I substituted red pepper flakes and a couple dashes of cayenne pepper. These burger patties can be made without the heat however, if you'd prefer not to have it.

For my topping sauce however, I did add Captain Rodney's Scotch Bonnie Pepper Boucan Glaze. 3 TBS Mayo, 2 TBS lime juice, 1 1/2 TBS Captain Rodney's. A great, tangy sauce with just a bit of heat. I highly recommend making the sauce to top the burgers off. Make the sauce!!

The seasoning I made first, then added the ground chicken meat. (Ground chicken, not chicken breast, FYI. More flavorful, holds together better when grilling.) Wet your hands when making the patties, makes it much easier to shape and stops the sticking to your skin. Also oil the grill before placing your patties down - they will stick badly without it. Cook about 5 minutes on each side, flipping only once to get those pretty grill marks. Flip carefully, too. They won't hold together like a hamburger patty.

Garnish with the sauce, lettuce, tomato, and onion. These chicken burgers are quite hot.  Have a refreshing margarita on the side to cool it down.

This plate above is literally about 30 seconds before I started eating. I paired the burgers with grilled avocado and baked mango chunks. Fantastic.