Leftover special: Salad Nicoise Sandwich

Salad Nicoise Sandwich Recipe #

I grabbed a beautiful piece of tuna at the meat market and couldn’t decide what to do with it. I cooked it last night and it was waiting in the fridge for me when i made it home from work. Obviously this isn’t an authentic salad nicoise. I didn’t have any greens. I had fresh baked ciabatta.  I think i managed just fine.

This is chicken scratch but you get the idea:

2 slices fresh bakery quality bread
1 Egg (boiled and chopped)
Leftover Tuna - Cold. Sliced or broken up to fit on bread.
1 tbsp capers (drained)
2 tbsp Nicoise olives
2 sprigs fresh dill (or some dried)
2 tbsp finely sliced red onion
1/2 tp anchovy paste
4 cherry tomatoes seeded & sliced
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 C Mayo
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

I started by combining the wet ingredients in a bowl and whisking them together with a spoon.
then I tossed in the red onion, capers, dill, olives,  and tomatoes to get them coated and marinating together.

Once this was finished I filled a small pot w/ cold water dropped in my egg and and brought it to a boil. Once it hits a rolling boiling I turn it down. After it’s finished (about 10 min) I put it in an ice bath to stop the cooking and cool it off. I like my yolks set but not chalky.

Then I toast my bread. I used ciabatta because we’ve got a great local bakery that makes a mean Ciabatta. I use a cast iron skillet @ med heat with a pat of butter and a drizzle of canola oil.

Assembly is fairly easy. I coated the bottom slice of bread with the mayo based sauce and some veggies. I just spooned it onto the bread sloppily. I topped that with the sliced egg and then arranged my salmon on that. I topped the salmon with veg & poured the rest of the sauce over the top. just to be dainty I added another few small sprigs of dill. No big deal.

It’s good for 2 sandwiches. If you had greens a light salad would be awesome. I can see endive or arugula some good sharp green. You could save a drizzle of the sauce and add a few grinds of pepper for a salad dressing and this would be an awesome impromptu meal made up of leftovers.

Just plan on pan searing some for dinner sometime and tossing in an extra filet and saving it for this.  If I’d had green beans left they would’ve probably made it on the sandwich too.
Is it lunch time? I think I’m hungry again.

Cooking and blogging and living and all that other shit I don't have time for:

It's November? When did that happen? Somehow my personal life got a little crazy, my work life got a little hectic, and I went on a pretty crazy drinking spree.

Question and Answer with myself:

Have I been cooking? Yes. Often. I am taking the helm with family thanksgiving and planning a French themed dinner for the girl I've been dating. Lots of fun stuff. Oh, and there was a Chili Cook-Off on Sunday I entered.

Why aren't you writing any of this in your blog? I'm weird with the writing. It's not like Facebook or Twitter or any of that bullshit because I want to devote some time to it. Those social networking things exist as time wasters and I've been spending my time wasting it on FB and not on writing all the recipes for the awesome food I've been cooking.

Can you give us a Sports Center type highlight reel of some of your recent dishes? Why, yes. I'd be happy to.  Hangover annihilator chili:

1. chili paste from dried chili peppers, ground pork, bacon, tri tip, and short ribs.
2. Quick curry. Frozen shrimp simmered in a coconut milk and curry mix. I made it over rice and over ramen. ( i even did a Vegan version)
3. Speaking of Vegan I've got the Portabello tacos pretty squared away.
4. Rocked Out a family dinner w/ Grilled & Broiled Salmon, Rosemary Orzo, and a fresh parsley and roasted cherry tomato salad
5. Chipotle nachos likeamotherfucker. They're awesome. There are pics everywhere.
6. Braised chicken thighs in a white wine sauce w/ wilted kale (need I say more?)

there's a few of the better dishes I've been meaning to write about. Notable mention to the pulled it out of thin air strawberry bread pudding and the mini cornbread muffins with the duck fat oiled muffin pan. Yum.

Vacation, kickball, birthdays, broken down cars, bosses leaving work, work trips, etc.

I'm in this for the long haul. Whether I write here or not I'm storing it in my head and planning on ways to get it out.

I think I've got some fun food stuff coming up. Look for pictures on my facebook fan page for Bastard Chef and back here. I'm going to try and update this at least every week.