Next stop...Nice!

Though from Brittany originally, my father spent the better part of his youth in Nice where he lived on pan bagnat sandwiches and Niçoise salads.

This time of year, when the tomatoes, string beans, baby potatoes and peppers all come together at the market, a classic salade Niçoise seems inevitable. So easy to pull together and so beautiful to present to your guests and with so many distinct sharp flavors that come together like a symphony.

There is much debate about what constitutes a proper salade Niçoise though the general consensus is the ingredient list should include crisp butter lettuce leaves, boiled baby potatoes, al dente string beans anchovies, tuna poached or packed in oil, tomatoes, (barely) hard-boiled eggs, black olives, and red peppers (optional). Some chefs add capers and others go completely rogue and sub slices of fresh grilled ahi tuna for the canned or poached albacore. For a deep dive on this dish, read this.

If you want to use preserved tuna, I highly recommend the Pole & Line Tonnino, tuna fillets in olive oil and oregano which you can find at local supermarkets. I usually buy several at a time so I can make this salad on a dime in the summer.

Pan Bagnat is a riff on the Salade Nicoise, only in sandwich form. A very tall sandwich. With lots of olive oil. In fact, my dad claimed he would order one from the cafe below his parents' apartment, then make a beeline for the docks where after devouring the sandwich, he'd dive into the Mediterranean to rinse off. It was that messy.

You could potentially do the same right here in Irvington. Here's a Saveur magazine recipe for this classic Provencal sandwich.

For either recipe you'll need the right heady olive oil (Kontoulis Olive oilcomes to mind), and the right bread. and the right bread and it just so happens that we have not one but three bread vendors at the market this week. 123 Dough is making their own house pesto made with local basil and they will be sampling it on their focaccia.

Of course, if you want to throw some pretty microgreens in your sandwich or salad, we're not going to stop you. Not with Guoz Gardens back at the market this week.

Make dessert easy: grab a peach blueberry pie from Noble Pies!

And don't forget to buy your Teagevity tea if you're heading out on vacation. I can't think of anything I'd rather drink on a hot summer's day than some iced raspberry lemon tea, preferably with a memorable sandwich on a sunny dock somewhere...