Fresh tuna ‘Niçoise’ with grilled bread & rouille

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 rewarm olives before serving, discarding pieces of bayleaf.

To make the rouille, crush garlic with ½ tsp of the salt. Heat ½ Tbsp 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.

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 Tbsp lemon juice, then start adding remaining oil a little more quickly, in a thin, even stream. Blend in the last Tbsp of lemon juice, then the lumpy bread mixture and parsley. This sauce can be made 1-2 days ahead of time; cover and refrigerate.

Rinse tuna, pat dry and cut into small cubes. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

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. Serve immediately with chargrilled bread and a bowl of the remaining rouille.

Cook's tip This is a great recipe that you can tweak depending on how much time you have, your budget, or what’s in the cupboard. If funds won’t stretch to fresh tuna, use canned instead. This way of warming olives is simply gorgeous, but if time is short, buy a scoop or two from the deli – and in place of the rouille, a ready-made aioli or favourite mayonnaise will do the trick nicely.

Article from the March, 2013 issue of Taste magazine .