Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil or use a nonstick baking sheet. Thoroughly rinse produce and pat dry. Remove membrane and seeds from bell pepper and finely dice. Peel and finely dice red onion. Drain artichokes and chop. Remove woody stems from green beans and chop half. Drain olives and capers. Chop olives, if desired. Halve lemon. Drain and rinse white beans.

Prepare a medium bowl with cold water and ice cubes (this is called an “ice bath”); set aside. Bring a medium pot with 3 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, submerge beans in water and cover. Allow beans to boil for 3 minutes and then strain beans from pot and place them in the ice bath so they can cool quickly. When cold to the touch, remove beans and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together 2 Tbsp. olive oil, juice of the lemon, and Dijon mustard, until smooth. If more viscosity is desired, add the reserved caper and olive liquids. Add salt and pepper to taste and allow flavors to combine by letting dressing sit at room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, add white beans and roughly mash, leaving about ⅔ of the white beans whole. Add in the bell pepper, artichokes, red onion, olives, capers, and salt and pepper to taste. Add Dijon dressing and blanched green beans. Mix well.

Toasting the bread is essential to making this sandwich authentic. Cut bread in half lengthwise. Remove some of the insides of each half, making a trough for the filling (this will help keep the filling inside the sandwich when eating). Brush baguettes with olive oil. Place in the oven to get warm and toasted, for about 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with additional olive oil before assembling sandwiches.

Add a generous serving of the mixed salad to the bottom half of each baguette. Top with basil leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Top with other slice of bread. Here’s the fun part: Wrap the sandwich tightly in saran wrap and press with a few heavy books/pots for at least 30 minutes. (If you’re making for lunch or meals the next day, put something heavy on top of the sandwiches in the refrigerator overnight).