22 Dec Pan Bagnat (Bread Salad) for one

 Inspired by the Pan Bagnat recipe from the  Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home cookbook, this open-faced,vegetarian salad/sandwich is perfect for lunch or dinner. -Robin 

Our Recipe Redux assignment this month:

  Grab a Book & Cook

It’s the end of the year and we’ll taking a moment to reflect: Recipe ReDux has been around for 42 months! To celebrate, we’re playing a little party game this month: Grab your nearest cookbook and ReDux the recipe on page 42 or 142. 

Fifteen years ago, I stood in line at my local Sur La Table to get my copy of Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home autographed by Julia and Jacques themselves. I was one of hundreds who were swiftly ushered through the line by staff, given a quick hello and a warm smile by both Julia and Jacques and then left on my own to review the 420 + pages. 

Page 142 began with the Pan Bagnat.    Just a heads up here–you’re going to need a fork and knife for this one. 

Here’s how I modified the recipe:
1. I purchased this gorgeous 5 Cheese focaccia bread right out of the oven from Central Market.  It allowed for a smaller portion of cheese in the recipe as well as the removal of the salt. With the salt from the bread and the olives, it was seasoned perfectly-just needed that fresh cracked black pepper at the end. 

2. The original recipe calls for brie cheese. I subbed cheddar to save of calories and fat, but it really missed the creamy factor from the brie. To compensate, I added avocados. It did the trick. 

3. Jacques Pepin insisted on weighing the sandwich for hours to allow for the vegetable juices to soak into the bread. Around here, we don’t have hours for the juices to soak up. Instead, we served and eat as soon as the photos were taken. 

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One note of interest. In the ingredient section of the recipe, it calls for a  2-ounce can of anchovies in olive oil . Nowhere in the directions are the anchovies mentioned. As one of my culinary colleagues mentioned,  “even the pros (or their team of editor) can’t proofread enough”.  

As the first and only recipe challenge founded by registered dietitians, The Recipe ReDux aims to inspire the food lover in every healthy eater and inspire the healthy eater in every food lover. Thank you for visiting. We hope you enjoy!

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