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Recipe

Fresh tuna niçoise with grilled bread and rouille

Julie Biuso shares her crafty, clever ways to turn out fabulous meals night after night

  • 20 mins cooking
  • Serves 4
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Ingredients

Warmed olives
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 clove garlic, peeled and smashed with a mallet
  • 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1/2 orange, pared rind, roughly chopped
  • 1 fresh bay leaf, torn in two
  • 1 cup mixed olives, drained
Rouille
  • 3 clove garlic, split in half
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 1 slice ciabatta, crusts removed (about 30g without crusts)
  • 1 small red capsicum, roasted, peeled, deseeded, very finely diced
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 medium vine tomato, chopped
  • 2 large (size 7) free-range egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon creamy dijonnaise mustard
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Fresh tuna niçoise
  • 350 gram fresh tuna loin
  • 350 gram green beans
  • 500 gram mixed heirloom or garden tomatoes
  • 150 gram rocket, trimmed, or baby cos leaves, torn into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 small loaf sourdough bread, sliced and chargrilled

Method

Fresh tuna niçoise with grilled bread and rouille
  • 1
    Make the warmed olives first. Put all the ingredients in a small frying pan and set over a very low heat (a simmer mat is good here). Let the olives infuse in the seasoned oil for at least 15 minutes; the mixture must not fry. Turn off the heat and let olives cool, tossing them from time to time. Gently re-warm olives before serving, discarding pieces of bayleaf.
  • 2
    To make the rouille, crush garlic with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Heat ½ tablespoon of the oil in a small frying pan and, when hot, fry bread until golden, then cut into rough cubes. Put prepared capsicum in a liquidiser with the crushed garlic, paprika, tomato and bread cubes. Process to a lumpy purée.
  • 3
    Whisk egg yolks in a bowl with mustard and remaining salt. Drip in the remaining oil off the tines of a fork. Once ½ cup of the oil is whisked in, the mixture should be nice and thick. Blend in 1 tablespoon lemon juice, then start adding remaining oil a little more quickly, in a thin, even stream. Blend in the last tablespoon of lemon juice, then the lumpy bread mixture and parsley. This sauce can be made 1-2 days ahead of time; cover and refrigerate.
  • 4
    Rinse tuna, pat dry and cut into small cubes. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.
  • 5
    Trim beans, slice and blanch in boiling salted water. Drain and refresh with cold water. Slice or halve tomatoes. Put the rocket or cos leaves on a large serving platter. Top with tomatoes and warm beans, then the tuna and 3-4 blobs of rouille. Toss very gently, then pour on the olives with all their dressing.
  • 6
    Serve immediately with chargrilled bread and a bowl of the remaining rouille.

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