Work has been a bit hectic lately so I've been doing my best to make light fare at home so that my sedentary lifestyle doesn't turn me into Shamu. Here's a fun twist on a traditional nicoise salad -- use poached eggs instead of hard boiled and pan-seared tuna instead of the canned kind. I was inspired to use poached eggs after I fell in love with the warm spinach and applewood bacon salad at Citizen Cake in San Francisco, which is topped with poached eggs. For me, there's nothing like breaking into a runny egg yolk and sopping up the oozy center -- it really is nature's fondue.
Ingredients
1-2 tuna steaks (seasoned with herbs de provence and a little salt and pepper)
Romaine lettuce
Radishes
Hericot verts
Kalamata olives
Grape tomatoes
2-4 eggs (or however many you need so that you have one egg per serving)
1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
Olive oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
Herbs de provence
Salt and pepper
Tuna
In a lightly oiled pan, sear the tuna on both sides until the flesh turns from translucent to opaque. ~ 3-4 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the fish. When the tuna is cooked through (if you use sushi grade tuna, you can leave the middle rare if you like), set it aside and let it rest for a few minutes. Break the tuna into bite-sized chunks.
Poached Egg
In a small sauce pan, bring some water to a simmer (it should be deep enough to cover an egg). Add the vinegar and stir the water with a wooden spoon. Crack open one egg and drop it into the middle of the whirlpool (created by your stirring motion). After the egg whites cook through, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and set aside. Do this with each egg.
Dressing
Using a microplane, grate the garlic cloves and zest the lemon into a medium-sized bowl. Squeeze all the juice from the lemon into the bowl and add about 3/4 cup of good olive oil. Add the mustard and whisk the whole thing together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle in a few pinches of the herbs de provence.
Veggies
Wash and slice the veggies however you like and assemble them on a plate. I like to blanch the hericot verts in boiling water so they are tender. Drizzle the dressing over the veggies right before serving (keeping any extra for the table) and top the whole thing with the chunks of tuna and the poached eggs. Serve with a warm baguette.