Pain Bagnat

Widely lauded as the best kind of picnic sandwich, everyone has a version and a preference. I've seen some spread inside with cream cheese (a little cloying), lined with procuitto (a little chewy) and doused in red wine vinegar (a little sour). The only thing you can't have too much of in a pain bagnat is roasted Mediterranean vegetables. No tomatoes though - they will make this lovely moist and crisp sandwich simply soggy.

It's good to experiment with bread for this recipe, a day old fresh white crusty loaf is standard but feel free to have a go with wholemeal, seeded or even sour dough. As the recipe is French you could use some lovely artisan Franch bread but why waste an expensive loaf by ripping out all the good stuff? Supermarket bread will do. It helps if you have need for breadcrumbs in a recipe in the next few days, just blitz the inside of the loaf in the food processor and then store in an airtight bag in the freezer.

Aubergines, courgettes and peppers are the star of this show but can be nicely complimented by some milky mozerella, a bland cheese will work well here, don't deploy goat's cheese or blue cheese, it will overpower the vegetables. Some chopped olives season cheerfully, as does a handful of fresh basil, originally calling for red wine vinegar, I've used white balsamic for an extra sweetness.

Pain Bagnat

1 courgette

1 aubergine

2 peppers (any colour but green)

Jar of pitted green olives

2 red onions

6 baby portobello mushrooms

150g mozzerella

2 large handfulls of fesh basil

Large french style loaf

Oilive oil

Salt and pepper

Slice all the vegetables other than the mushrooms in to thin strips, season and oil.

Roast or grill individually until just charing, turning half way through.

Meanwhile, cut the loaf horizontally about a third down so that you can scoop the bread out of the middle and the lid. Make sure there is about a half inch of bread left all the way around for soaking up the juices. You can reserve the breadcrumbs and freeze for later.

Mash the olives and drain a few times in a sieve to remove brine, line the bread with the olives

Leave the vegetables to cool and drain of oil on kitchen paper.

Layer the bread, starting with the mozzerella, then the basil, peppers, aubergine, courgette, mushrooms and onions.

Put the lid on, wrap a few times round with cling film and put some tins or a heavy book on top and leave somewhere cool, preferably overnight.

Slice with a bread knife and enjoy while lazing in the sun.