Fresh Tuna Salad
Homemade oil-poached tuna. It can be used in many recipes, but today I assembled it into a salad like in Skiathos, at Thessaloniki taverna.
Ingredients
Oil-Poached Tuna (4 servings)
450 g tuna fillet
1 cup olive oil
2 bay leaves
zest of 1/4 large lemon
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/8 teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
2 large basil leaves
2 sprigs of dill
5 large mint leaves
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Dressing (for 1 serving)
2 tablespoons oil from the tuna
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon mustard
Salad (for 1 serving)
4-5 lettuce leaves
1 tomato
1 green onion
1/4 lemon
chopped dill
Servings: 4
How to prepare fresh tuna salad
- Cut the tuna into cubes of about 3 cm. Sprinkle with salt and refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours.
- Meanwhile, place the bay leaves, lemon zest (peeled with a vegetable peeler), sliced garlic, lightly crushed black pepper, and chili in a small saucepan. Add the oil and heat everything on low heat. Don't let it boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pan with a lid, and let it cool completely.
- Place the tuna in a jar (an 800 ml jar is large enough). Pour the infused oil over it with all the aromatics. The oil must completely cover the tuna. If not, top up with more oil. Put the lid on the jar and gently turn it so the aromatics get between the tuna pieces.
- Place the jar in the oven (without the lid) at 90°C for 30-40 minutes. Check a piece of tuna to make sure it's no longer pink in the center.
- Remove the jar from the oven and chop the herbs (basil, mint, dill). Add them to the jar and turn the jar again so the herbs get between the tuna pieces. Let it cool completely.
- The tuna can be used as soon as it has cooled or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Before serving, bring it back to room temperature.
- When you want to serve the salad, prepare the dressing (note: ingredients are given for one salad): in a bowl, mix the oil from the tuna with lemon juice and mustard until it forms an emulsion. Add 1/4 of the tuna prepared above (drain the pieces well of oil when removing from the jar) and mix gently.
- Assembling the salad: place tomato slices on the bottom of a plate. Place the lettuce leaves cut into smaller pieces on top. Sprinkle tuna pieces over them, pouring all the dressing from the bowl on top. Sprinkle with sliced green onion rounds and dill. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Oil-poached tuna
