RECIPE - Tuna Niçoise Salad
- Mr T
- Apr 20, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: May 19, 2019
Salads are a firm favourite as the weather gets warmer, but bought salads (from a supermarket or a restaurant) can often leave you feeling less than satisfied, due to their 'leafy nature' (I can't stand all leaf, or even worse, shredded cabbage salads!).
When making your own though, there is nothing stopping you making them hearty, filling and most importantly - nutrient dense!
Shopping list (makes approx 9 large salads):
Iceberg lettuce, head x1
Spinach, pack x2
Sweet potatoes, large x4
Cucumber x3
Carrots x3
Kabu (small round white daikon) x12 - or normal daikon, I got kabu because it was on sale!
Avocado x4
Mini tomatoes 400g
Red onion x1
Eggs x8
Black olives, can x1
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Lemon x1
Tuna, can x8 - I like to use seared sushi grade tuna too, but this requires more planning/shopping (can't keep in the fridge for a whole week) and is obviously more expensive.
Capers, jar x1 - optional
Anchovies, tin x2 - optional
Sunflower seeds - optional
Salt / pepper / garlic / chilli / herbs / other flavourings - to your taste
This lot cost me a little over 4000yen from 'Niku no Hanamasa' in Honan, Suginami and will feed me (lunch and dinner) for most of the working-week (8-10 salads). That's 500yen or less, per nutrient dense, hearty, filling meal!:
Method:
The bits that need cooking:
Chop the sweet potato into big bite sized chunks and coat in extra virgin olive oil and salt/pepper/your desired flavourings.
Spread over two oven trays (on baking sheet if desired) and roast at 210°c for 40mins turning once or twice during that time.
Put 8 eggs in a pan and just cover with cold water.
Cut the kabu into six each and place in a covered steamer pot on top of the egg pan.
Bring the water to a gentle, rolling boil and time for 6mins, turning the kabu occasionally during that time.
After 6mins, uncover the kabu and set aside to cool and plunge the eggs into cold/ice water, to rapidly cool.
Coat the cherry tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil and salt/pepper/your desired flavourings and place on a another baking tray on a baking sheet.
As soon as the sweet potatoes are nice and soft and browned, remove from the oven and immediately put in the cherry tomatoes for another 10mins, while the oven is still hot.
The bits that don't need cooking:
Wash and slice the cucumbers.
Wash and spiralise (or slice if preferred) the carrots.
Peel and thinly slice the red onion.
Chop, wash, and thoroughly dry in a salad spinner, both the iceberg lettuce and spinach.
Drain, rinse and slice, if necessary, the black olives.
Drain and rinse the capers if using.
Remove the anchovies from their tins if using and chop into small pieces.
Put the anchovies and capers into the same tupperware, add some extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and mix together to coat for preservation and to bind their flavours.
Put the olives and roasted tomatoes + any juices (when cooled) into the same tupperware and mix gently to bind their flavours.
When all the cooked items have cooled, put everything into tupperware boxes for storage in the fridge. Those without strong flavours/lots of moisture, can go into the same boxes to save space.
When you are finished, your meal prep for the week, might look something like this:
Nothing needs to be done in advance to the avocado, tinned tuna or sunflower seeds (if using). These things are added at the time of eating (avocado goes brown very quickly when exposed to the air).
Putting the salad together for eating:
Make a small bed of spinach and lettuce (this will not be the bulk of your salad - remember, I hate leafy salads - it will just be another 'part')
Throw on top some carrot 'strings', cucumber slices and a good scattering of red onion.
Add a good handful of sweet potato chunks and the same for kabu chunks.
Now it's time to add half a fresh sliced avocado.
Drain a tin of tuna well and scatter tuna flakes all over the salad.
The flavours are coming!... Add a few tablespoonfuls of your cherry tomato & olive mix and a couple of teaspoonfuls of your caper and anchovy mix (if using).
Squeeze a segment of lemon over the salad and add a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste.
Finally, scatter sunflower seeds all over the salad, add some fresh cracked black pepper and peel and cut your soft-boiled egg to place on top for the final decoration!
When you are finished, your HUGE salad, might look something like this:
Putting the salad together for taking to work / school:
Put all the bulky 'minimal moisture' / 'minimal smell' items together in a large sealable container. Make sure the container still has space available after all these items have gone in: Lettuce, spinach, carrot, cucumber, kabu, sweet potato, sunflower seeds.
Put all the 'high moisture' / 'high smell' items together in a small sealable container: Avocado (this is here to be preserved by the 'dressing'), red onion, tuna, olives & tomatoes, anchovies & capers, peeled & cut egg.
In the 'high moisture/smell' container, squeeze over some lemon juice (this helps preserve the avocado), add extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar and some fresh cracked black pepper.
When at work / school and ready to eat, simply 'dump' the 'high moisture/smell' container contents into the 'minimal moisture/smell container'. This is why you made sure you used a larger container than necessary, so there was still space for this.
Hopefully you still have space to mix all the ingredients!
When you are finished, your 'takeaway' salad, might look something like this:
Doesn't it just MAKESENSE to have salads made of nutrient rich, hearty, filling vegetables, good fats and protein, rather than a bowlful of boring, not filling, empty calorie lettuce or cabbage?!
The spinach in this salad is a nice addition to the lettuce here as it adds that important dark green colour and therefore, important iron.
The avocado adds important fats/oils, as does the fish, as well as welcome protein, which is also in abundance in the egg and sunflower seeds.
The red onion, capers, anchovies, roasted tomatoes and olives all add loads of flavour, meaning that often lemon juice is enough of a dressing, or just a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
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