Description
Use this recipe as a guide but don't feel limited by the ingredients, be creative!
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup chives, finely chopped
- 1 tsp chopped tarragon
- 2 Tbsp chopped dill
- 2 tsp ground or Dijon mustard
- 1-2 tsp kosher salt (start with 1 tsp and adjust to taste)
- 1 Tbsp toum (sub 1 large clove garlic smashed if you don't have toum)
- 1/2 lemon squeezed
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Ahi Tuna:
- 1 pound Ahi tuna, cut into cubes
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp toum
- 1 tsp chopped dill
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp red peppercorns
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 Tbsp capers
Salad Components:
- Green leaf or butter lettuce
- Baby potatoes, steamed or boiled until tender (see notes)**
- Radishes
- Baby carrots
- Cannellini beans
- Hard boiled eggs (see notes)**
- Tomatoes
- English or Persian cucumbers, sliced
- Roasted red peppers
- Niçoise olives
- Green beans (blanched, see notes)**
- English peas (blanched, see notes)**
- Canned or prepared tuna (see above)
Instructions
Dressing:
- Place all your ingredients into a jar.
- Seal tight and shake vigorously until all ingredients are combined.
- Store any leftover dressing in fridge, bring to room temperature before using and shake again to reconstitute.
Ahi Tuna:
- Prepare tuna by cutting into 1" chunks
- Toss tuna pieces with toum, salt and dill, let sit for 30 minutes to absorb flavor or even overnight
- In a heavy bottomed or cast iron skillet, heat your olive oil on medium high heat
- Once hot, add your peppercorns and place tuna pieces in on one side
- Allow to sear until crisp bottom appears, about 3-4 minutes
- Flip to opposite side and sear again
- Finally finish in pan with capers and lemon juice
Salad:
- To arrange salad, begin by fanning out your lettuce
- Next, begin placing each item around the edges, trying to alternate colors for a vivid appearance
- Place canned tuna or prepared ahi tuna in center
- Drizzle dressing on top of all the components to your liking
- Garnish with extra dill
Notes
**Blanch greens beans, English peas or other hard greens by placing in boiling water for 2-3 minutes then immediately shocking them in ice cold water.
**After cooking potatoes, toss with dressing while still warm. I like to cook mine in my Instant pot for 5 minutes on manual and natural release, 1 cup water and rack. Boiling for 20-25 minutes until fork tender also works.
**Hard boiled eggs: place eggs in water and begin a 10 minute timer once begins to boil.
Instant Pot ~ place eggs in Instant Pot with rack and 1 cup water, set to 5 minutes manual, quick release and immediately place in ice cold water
**Salad can be composed in a large platter as shown or in individual plates