Salad Nicoise

This French classic would have to be one of my all time favourite meals.  Crunchy potato, soft egg, sweet tomatoes, fresh green beans, salty olives and anchovies, topped with a succulent, tender piece of fresh tuna.  So fresh.......Aaaaahhhhhh!!  "La beaute` de la vie!"

You will need:

Serves 2

1 tbs olive oil
2 pieces of fresh Tuna
2 medium desiree potatoes
2 eggs
8 anchovy fillets
16 large kalamata olives
1 punnet ripe cherry tomatoes, cut in half
2 handfuls of green beans, topped and tailed
1/2 a red onion, sliced into rings
2 tbs chopped continental parsley, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper

For the dressing:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 white wine vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard
1tbs honey
Salt and Pepper

This recipe is really easy to put together, it is just a matter of preparing everything seperately.

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Cut the potatoes (skin on) into 2cm cubes and bring to the boil in a small saucepan.  Boil for about 5 minutes and then drain and transfer to a baking tray.  Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until crunchy and golden.

Blanche the green beans in boiling, salted water for approximately 2 minutes, drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process.  Add a couple of ice cubes and you will have lovely, crunchy, bright green beans.

Place the eggs in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil.  Boil for about 2 minutes and then drain under cold water.  Peel the eggs and slice into wedges.

Heat a griddle pan (a normal pan will do) until really hot.  drizzle and pat a little olive oil on both sides of the tuna and season with salt and pepper.  Cook the tuna in the hot pan for about 2-3 minutes either side for medium rare.  Be careful not to overcook as  the tuna will become very dry.

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk until you have a nice thick emulsion.

To assemble the salad, divide and layer all the ingredients by scattering them on a plate.  Potatoes, tomatoes and egg on the bottom.  Shred the anchovies and dot the olives over the top. Sprinkle the beans and onion rings and cut the Tuna in half and layer on top.  Sprinkle with the parsley and drizzle with a generous amount of the dressing and finish off with a little more cracked black pepper.