Tuna Salad Not-coise

Salads to me are usually an afterthought; bagged grocery store lettuce, some cheese and/or nuts if they’re around, and bottled dressing. In Ad Hoc at Home, Thomas Keller has a whole spiel about preparing salads. The tl;dr version is to select the best produce you can find, toss everything separately with the dressing, and season everything separately with salt. It’s another dish to wash, but it lends to an evenly dressed salad, instead of my usual puddle of dressing at the bottom of the bowl. This dish is basically salad nicoise, minus the nicoise.

Vinaigrette:

1 Tbsp diced shallots

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic

1 Teaspoon oregano

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup canola oil

Salt and pepper

For the Salad:

Boston or butter lettuce

Shallot, sliced thin

Hard-boiled egg

Cherry tomatoes

½ avocado, sliced

Red potato, cut into bite sized chunks

Green beans

Tuna steak

Olive oil

Lemon juice

For the vinaigrette:

Add the shallots to the vinegar and let them macerate for about 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk. Season with salt and pepper.

For the Salad:

Marinate the tuna in some olive oil and lemon juice for about an hour. Leave it out on the counter for at least half an hour to come up to room temp. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Boil the green beans in salted water until cooked through, 5 minutes. Spoon some vinaigrette into a large bowl, and toss the lettuce to evenly coat. Place on a plate, top with sliced shallots. Toss the cherry tomatoes, the cooked potatoes, and cooked green beans in vinaigrette, and place on top of the lettuce along with the avocado and hard-boiled egg.  Lightly season everything with salt. Heat your cast-iron skillet on high until it’s nice and hot, and sear the tuna for about 1 minute per side, depending on thickness. Slice thin and add to the salad to complete.