Fried Tilapia Fillet with Red Onions and Olive Tartar Sauce on Pane Rustico

There are everyday sandwiches and then there are heavenly combinations like this one the sweet, white flesh of tilapia crisply fried and sauced with olive-flecked tartar sauce. This is a sandwich for company, room temperature food of exactly the right kind-full of flavor, sophisticated, but easy to make. Accompany it with a bottle of good chilled white wine; then while away a summer afternoon.

For very practical reasons, we suggest you fry the fillets in advance. In that way, any smell of fish, which deters some people from cooking fish at home, should have disappeared from your house by the time you are ready to eat. To keep things really easy, make the tartar sauce ahead of time, too. This brings us to the bread: Pane Rustico, a variation of country bread, is crusty and not too flavorful. It is the contrast of textures-crustiness on the outside, and softness within that makes it so appealing. You will have to assemble the sandwiches before serving, but even so, when it comes to dishes that are good for entertaining, these tasty sandwiches figure near the top of the easy-to-prepare list.