photo by Tina Rupp
If you’re like me, sometimes you have to step back and just have a salad for dinner. This one satisfies the yen for fresh greens and vegetables, but the tuna and potatoes add heft, turning what would otherwise be a side salad into a satisfying meal.
When I chose this tuna, potato and caper salad for a cooking demo at the Saturday Morning Market, I realized I could get virtually all the ingredients from the vendors. Organic lettuce and other produce come from Worden Farm, owned and operated by two Ph.D.s in southwest Florida. Olive oil and white wine vinegar from Puglia from Tampa-based V Spicery make a lovely vinaigrette.
A good brand of canned tuna would be fine in this salad, but I decided instead to use a special technique for poaching fresh tuna in olive oil. Martin Fisher ordered the tuna for me. If you’re not familiar with Fisher’s, his stand, check it out. Any given Saturday Martin can be seen deftly filleting grouper, snapper, mackerel, whatever the catch of the week might be.
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 medium boiling potatoes peeled and cut in small dice
- 1 large tomato or roasted red bell pepper
- 1 celery stalk angle cut in thin slices (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 small sweet onion halved pole to pole, cut in slivers
- 1 to 2 tablespoons capers preferably salt-cured, rinsed
- 4 cups torn salad greens
- 7 ounces good-quality canned tuna or fresh tuna poached in olive oil recipe follows
- Small black olives such as Gaeta
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Combine the olive oil, vinegar, salt and black pepper to taste in a medium bowl.
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Place the potatoes in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer until tender but not mushy, about 10 minutes. Drain and cool under running water. Add to the bowl with the dressing and gently turn the potatoes until coated.
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Halve the tomato and scoop out the insides; cut the shell in thin strips. Alternatively, cut a roasted pepper in strips. Add to the potatoes along with the celery, onion and capers.
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Line 4 plates with the greens and spoon the salad over them. Arrange the tuna and olives on top. Makes 4 servings.
Tuna Poached in Olive Oil: Cut 1 pound of boneless fresh tuna in large chunks and coat with 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt. Pack tightly in a medium saucepan or small skillet. Add1 rosemary sprig, 1 garlic clove, several peppercorns, a bay leaf and olive oil to cover (about 1 cup). Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook very gently until just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Cool. Transfer the pan contents to a ceramic container or glass jar. Refrigerate for up to a week. To use the tuna, break into smaller pieces. When it’s all gone, discard the oil.