SC - Sandwiches

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I sent this early this AM but got undeliverable messages, so i'm resending

- -------

On Sun, 10 Dec 2000 10:48:52, Adamantius wrote:
>LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
>  > In a message dated 12/7/00 12:47:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, troy at asan.com
>>  writes:
>  >
>  > > Probably the best sandwiches (apart from
>  > > the Pan Bagnat I used to sell at La Colombe d'Or and elsewhere, which is
>  > > the best sandwich in history)
>  >
>>  Recipe, please.
>
>There is none to speak of, only a description. The classic pan bagnat of
>places like Marseilles and Nice (in fact the sandwich has often been
>described as a salade nicoise on a baguette) is one of those sandwiches
>-- there are Italian, French, and probably Spanish versions, although I
>can't be certain of the latter -- which you make a couple of hours in
>advance, wrap, and sometimes even place under a weight to allow the
>flavors to blend. The most common pan bagnat involves rubbing the bread
>with a cut garlic clove, brushing it with olive oil, and piling on tuna
>packed in brine or in olive oil, sliced boiled eggs, sliced onion,
>sliced tomato, red, green or yellow sweet peppers, anchovies, pitted
>black olives (oil-or-wine-cured, not the canned travesties) and some
>greens, often Cos or Romaine lettuce. Optional sprinkle of vinegar.

- -- snip Adamantius' description of his fabulous sandwich --

Still catching up on back e-mail and i came across Adamantius' 
masterful pan bagnat - i used to eat them on occasion when i lived in 
Cannes, not as luxurious as Master A's, but inexpensive, tasty, and 
filling. Mmm-mmm i love anchovies.

But his description also brings to mind one of the better meals i had 
in Morocco - in fact, my daughter and i went back the next day for a 
repeat experience.

In Chefchaouen, in the Rif region, a rugged area in northern Morocco, 
right at the entrance to the medina is Sandwish [sic] Aziz. There 
were two glass cases at right angles, one by the grill full of raw 
meats and sausages (merguez, i'm sure - i regret not trying some) and 
the other full of "cold" stuff. Each sandwich was served on a 
sliced-open [sub or torpedo or poorboy sized] fresh baguette - they 
picked some of the bready part out to make room for the fillings with 
which they were quite generous. While the Moroccans ate theirs with 
meat - which was cooked to order - my daughter and i had vegetarian 
ones. - we told them what we wanted on ours - let's see if i can 
remember the options:

sliced raw tomato, cucumber (peeled, seeded, cut in half then 
sliced), finely shredded raw carrots, shredded cooked beets, bell 
peppers cut about the same size as the cucumbers, deliciously cured 
pitted green olives, tuna, hard cooked egg, shredded lettuce, boiled 
potato chunks. There was probably shredded raw onion, but that's one 
food i almost always pass on - it's the one thing that hurts my 
stomach. And each sandwich was finished off with french fries 
(frites) right in the sandwich.

For moistening there was mayo (we both passed on it) and liquidy hot 
sauce (not sure what was in it - tomato and chili and some other 
stuff) which was poured onto the filling after the sandwich was 
assembled. There may have been oil, too, but i don't remember.

Then they wrapped the sandwich VERY TIGHTLY in white paper.

There were only men in the shop eating, but sometimes kids came in, 
little boys and little girls, to get a number of sandwiches to go, 
probably for the women at home. The guys working in the shop were 
really sweet to the kids.

If you're ever in Chefchaouen, i highly recommend Sandwish Aziz - oh, 
and they cost around 25 cents American without meat, under 50 cents 
with.

Anahita