Tuna Nicoisé

Last night, I made one of my favorite summer dishes tuna nicoisé and I managed to remember to take pictures this time! I use this recipe from Epicurious as my base and adjust from there. Earlier in the day, I roasted some small (1-2 inch) potatoes with rosemary and garlic. I roast about 3 or 4 per person. I also boiled the eggs (1 per person). When it’s time to make dinner, I start with the dressing. I like to use a lemon and oil based dressing because it goes better with the wine than a vinegar dressing. In general, for 2 people, I use about 2-3 TBS of lemon juice, a small mashed (with salt in a mortar and pestle) clove of garlic, about ¼ tsp of mashed anchovy, not more than a tsp of dijon mustard, I then slowly whisk in about 4-6 TBS of olive oil until it’s all emulsified, taste for flavor and add herbs and pepper– thyme and basil are nice and rosemary would complement the potatoes. I don’t add salt which is already in the garlic paste and the anchovy. While I am making the dressing, I briefly steam the green beans.


Once this is done, I begin to construct the salad, I like Boston lettuce as a base and I make a bed of this in wide flat pasta bowls. I quarter (or halve, depending on size) the potatoes and eggs and lay them nicely on the lettuce, then I add some halved cherries tomatoes and sprinkle with nicoisé olives (or kalamatas in a pinch), capers, and chopped fresh basil. I put about half of the salad dressing over this. Once this is all nicely laid out, I grill the tuna.

First I make the pepper blend for the crust. I like to use a pepper blend because it’s pretty. I crack it by hand in my mortar and pestle, but, sometimes, for convenience, I just grind regular pepper in the mill. I usually add a bit of lavender flowers to the crust to enhance the flavor of Provence and pick out some nice floral notes in the pinot noir, I’ll be serving. You could also add mustard seeds which go nicely with the dressing and also complement the pinot. I grill the tuna until it’s still pink but, not red in the center. For my 1 inch think steaks, this was just shy of 2 minutes a side. I cook it a bit more than they do in restaurants because, honestly, it’s very hard to get restaurant quality tuna for home, mainly because of the longer journey (good fish restaurants can go straight to the dock) and inconsistent handling along the way. I slice the tuna, lay it over the salad and finish with the rest of the dressing. Pour a big glass of very nice pinot noir and then it’s officially summer! Yum!