A Taste of the Cote D'Azur

I recently returned from a too brief mini-vacation to the South of France.  I friend and I traveled to Nice, with trips to Cannes, Eze and Monaco thrown in for good measure.  We had some great food while we were there, and lots and lots of Rose!  The food highlight was a trip to a three Michelin star restaurant in Monaco - Alain Ducasse's Louis XV, which is at the very ritzy Hotel de Paris right next to the Monte Carlo casino.  I have never had a Michelin star experience before and I must say this one really met, if not exceeded my expectations.  We went at lunch, which takes some of the financial pressure off, sat on the beautiful veranda, and were treated to the most attentive service and exceptional food.  I have documented most of it, in pictures after the jump.  The meal started with an adorable amuse, a mini-pan bagnant sandwich with only the best ingredients - the most perfect tiny vegetables, delicious bread, a white anchovy, olive oil poached tuna belly and a quail egg.   The Pan Bagnat is the official sandwich of the south of France - round french bread is filled with beautiful vegetables, including radishes, layered with tuna, olives, hard-boiled egg and an anchovy.  The bread is drizzled (or doused) with olive oil and pressed together vigorously.   We had a mediocre version in Eze, a beautiful medieval village on a very high cliff, but the version at Louis XV was really special and a perfect start to the meal.  My most amazing bite was dessert though, I had a Strawberry Vacherin - which included fresh strawberries, a coulis type sauce, meringue, strawberry and vanilla ice cream and a rich a vanilla flecked whipped cream.  The dish had those perfect tiny fraises du bois (strawberries of the forest or something like that) and really was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted  - it truly was the perfect ideal of what you imagine a strawberry to taste like.  OK, enough about the meal.  After the jump I will share some pictures of the trip, some food we ate, as well as my version of a Pan Bagnat. I apologize for the volume of photos, it was just too hard to narrow down!

 
 
 

 

Louis XV Experience

My Pan Bagnat

I could not find the round french bread that Pan Bagnat is usually served on, so I decided to make some myself.  I used a recipe from King Arthur Flour found  here and followed it to a T, except that I shaped the bread into smaller rounds.  It was very easy and very delicious.
Ingredients for Sandwich
French Bread, either round, homemade or just a baguette would work great
Lettuce - either romaine or something like arugula
tomato, sliced
radishes, sliced
hard boiled egg, sliced
tuna, preferably packed in olive oil
anchovies, at least 1 per sandwich
red onions, sliced (if you are like me and don't like the taste of raw onion, so the onion slices in 1/3 of a cup of red wine vinegar with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar for 20 minutes, this will quickly pickle them and take out the bite)
Other veggies of your choice (I used some green beans and some peppers, but these are not necessarily found in the authentic sandwich)
basil leaves
olive oil

To Assemble: Start with the lettuce and tomatoes and then pile other veggies on top, then add tuna, eggs and radishes, top with an anchovy and basil leaves.  Drizzle the top side of the bread with a good glug of olive oil.  Put the top of the sandwich on and press down hard, try to eat without the sandwich falling apart...