Winter Niçoise
Everyone’s favourite summer classic, reimagined with some of the very best winter veggies… the almighty purple sprouting broccoli in place of green beans, bitter radicchio in place of soft summer lettuce, and sourdough croutons which stand in for spring’s new potatoes. Other than that, the flavours are very much those you know and love already, and everything is happily muddled in a very punchy garlic & Dijon vinaigrette.
Flavour hacks…
They always keep you one step ahead.
If you prefer to keep this recipe vegetarian simply omit the tuna; and if you are including tuna see if you can seek out a tin of Ortiz Bonito del Norte - this is ‘white tuna’, aka Albacore tuna, which has been individually line caught. It tastes incredibly fresh, it’s texture is firm and meaty. In order to enjoy tuna sustainably look for ‘pole and line caught’ on the tin, and seek out only Albacore or Skipjack varieties; avoid Bluefin at all costs as it is critically endangered.
We found this Guardian article on tuna very helpful.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
This recipe serves 2 people
Ingredients:
2 slices sourdough bread
1 clove garlic
8 sprigs thyme
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp flakey sea salt
¼ tsp cracked pepper
2 large organic, free-range eggs
6-8 stems of purple sprouting broccoli
½ radicchio (or ¼ if very large)
4 handfuls mixed salad leaves
½ red onion
1 stalk celery
2 tbsp baby capers
1 tin of ‘pole & line’ tuna
Curly parsley
Method:
For the croutons:
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and have an oven rack near the top. At the base of a mixing bowl combine: 1 clove of minced or finely crushed garlic; the fresh thyme leaves, stripped from their stalks; 2 tbsp olive oil; the salt and pepper. Give these ingredients a quick stir with a fork, then cut or tear the sourdough into rough cubes and toss this very well in the olive oil etc. to coat evenly. We like to use our hands here, and to squeeze the bread slightly as we mix, to encourage all that flavour to penetrate and stick to the bread. Spread evenly over a roasting tray and bake in the hot oven for 6-10 mins until golden and well toasted.
For the eggs & broccoli:
Bring a medium/large pot of salted water to the boil. Once simmering slowly lower in your eggs and cook for 6 minutes. After the first 3 minutes add in the broccoli and allow this to simmer alongside the eggs for the final 3 minutes. Once drained allow the broccoli to steam-dry (to avoid a wet and heavy salad), and peel the eggs under a very gentle stream of running water.
For the bulk of the salad:
Slice the radicchio and mix this with your other leaves in a large salad bowl. Very finely slice the red onion into half-moons and finely slice the celery too. Add these to the salad bowl along with the capers and tuna (both well-drained), and the chopped parsley.
To assemble & serve:
Coarsely chop the purple sprouting broccoli and add this to the salad bowl along with the croutons. Add 4 tablespoons of Dijon Vinaigrette and toss really well; salads always improve with ‘over-tossing’ we find. Pile the salad high on your plates and top with those jammy-yolk eggs and a twist of black pepper.