Tuna, potato and green bean salad

Serve with a green sauce, mustard vinaigrette and sour cream

Serves 4

This is a totally “free-style” version of the traditional Nicoise salad. It is fun to make because you can add, omit or swap ingredients every time you make it. It can be served as a starter or a light lunch, but it is very important for the tuna to be sushi grade. If any doubt, don’t use it as the tuna should really be rare in the middle.

The green sauce:
1½ cup/375  ml parsley
½ cup/125 ml mint
½ cup/125 ml dill
1 tablespoon/15 ml tarragon
5 canned anchovies, rinsed and pat dry
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
¼ cup/60 ml capers, rinsed and roughly chopped
olive oil
freshly crushed black pepper

The vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons/30 ml red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon/15 ml Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup/125 ml extra virgin olive oil

The salad:
400 g/14 oz fresh tuna fillet
250 g/9 oz potatoes, unpeeled
250 g/9 oz French beans, trimmed
2 large ripe tomatoes, skinned
2 tablespoons/30 ml vegetable oil

The sour cream:
2 tablespoons/30 ml fresh cream
4 tablespoons/60 ml plain yogurt
2 teaspoons/60 ml lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

The garnish:
½ small red onion, sliced in very thin rings, rinsed under cold running water
2 fresh free-range eggs, medium soft-boiled, shelled and quartered
4 black olives, stoned and halved
4 basil leaves, finely sliced

Trim the tuna and roll up tightly with cling wrap into a cylinder, then refrigerate.

Chop the herbs finely by hand and mix them with the anchovy, garlic and capers. Add olive oil just to loosen the paste, taste and season with black pepper (the anchovies is salty enough).

In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, garlic, anchovy paste, salt and pepper, then gradually whisk in the oil. Reserve 2 tablespoons/30 ml of the vinaigrette for the tuna.

Boil the potatoes in salted water until just tender. Set aside to cool then remove the skins and slice into 5 ml (0.2 in) slices and sprinkle some salt and pepper over.

Boil the green beans until tender but still crisp, drain and refresh in cold water. Drain again.

Slice the tomatoes so that you have 16 rings of about 8 mm/0.3 in thick.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, unroll the tuna, then sear all over for not longer than 30 seconds. Remove from the pan and pour over the reserved vinaigrette. Season and set aside until ready to use.
Whisk the cream until stiff, then fold in the yogurt, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Set aside until ready to use.

To serve:
On each serving plate arrange the ingredients attractively and spoon the green sauce around.  Arrange the garnish all round and drizzle some more of the dressing over. Dot the green sauce with some sour cream, and finally sprinkle the basil over.