Niçoise-style tuna salad

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 500g baby potatoes
• 200g green beans, trimmed
• 4 eggs
• 2 little gem lettuces, or 1 large romaine, roughly chopped
• 250g ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 small red onion, finely sliced
• 145g tin good-quality tuna in olive oil, or 2 smaller tins
• 12 anchovy fillets, optional
• Small handful black olives
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

For the dressing
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 small garlic clove, finely grated or crushed
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Cook the potatoes

Put the potatoes into a pan of well-salted cold water and bring to the boil. Cook for 15–20 minutes, or until tender but not collapsing into themselves. Drain and leave them to steam dry for a few minutes, then halve or thickly slice them while still warm.

2. Blanch the beans and eggs

Bring another pan of water to the boil. Cook the eggs for 8 minutes, then lift them out and drop them into cold water. In the same pan, cook the green beans for 2–3 minutes until just tender but still with a bit of bite. Drain and run under cold water so they keep their colour and some self-respect.

3. Make the dressing

Whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and garlic with a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Taste it. It should be bright and punchy enough to wake everything up, not sit there politely in the background.

4. Dress the potatoes

While the potatoes are still a little warm, toss them with a spoonful or two of the dressing. This helps them soak up a bit more flavour, which is always worth doing.

5. Build the salad

Arrange the lettuce on a large platter or serving bowl, then pile over the potatoes, green beans, tomatoes and red onion. Flake over the tuna in generous pieces rather than breaking it down too much. Add the olives and anchovies, if using.

6. Finish and serve

Peel and quarter the eggs, then add them to the salad. Spoon over the rest of the dressing, scatter with parsley, and serve straight away. It should look abundant and slightly unruly rather than lined up like it is waiting for inspection.

A couple of helpful notes

- Tuna in olive oil is far better here than tuna in spring water. This is not the moment to be austere.
- If your tomatoes are not especially sweet, a tiny pinch of salt over them before assembling the salad helps enormously.
- For a slightly more robust version, add a few boiled new potatoes whole and let the salad lean even further into lunch territory.