Mackerel and Beetroot Niçoise Salad
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I love to make this dish with albacore, a firm, delicately flavoured white tuna, but, in terms of sustainability, it’s not a great option in Australia. Mackerel is a good swap for tuna as it holds its shape, and the flavours work well with the anchovy dressing. Or try to source sustainable sashimi-grade tuna.
Recipe details
Serves: Recipe for 4.
Protein: Seafood
Ingredients
3 large beetroot (beets)
100 ml (3½ fl oz) good quality white-wine vinegar
70 g (2½ oz) sugar
400 g (14 oz) mackerel (or other tuna varieties or a sustainably source sashimi-grade fish)
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) olive oil
1 cos (romaine) lettuce, washed and chopped into 2 cm (¾ in) pieces
16 pitted black olives
Anchovy dressing
50 g (1¾ oz) anchovies
200 ml (7 fl oz) nut milk
1 bay leaf
70 ml (2¼ fl oz) olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Roast 2 of the beetroot whole on a baking tray for 45 minutes, then let cool before peeling and chopping. Set aside.
To make the anchovy dressing, in a small saucepan add the anchovies, milk and bay leaf and simmer over a medium–low heat until it has reduced by half. Remove from the heat, take out the bay leaf and with a hand-held blender blitz in the olive oil and set aside.
Slice the remaining beetroot as thinly as possible on a mandoline, then put in a metal bowl. In a small saucepan over a high heat, boil the vinegar and sugar with 70 ml (2¼ fl oz) of water until the sugar dissolves, then pour over the sliced beetroot and set aside to pickle for at least 20 minutes.
Thinly slice the mackerel and divide among the plates. Brush it with the olive oil and season with salt. Add the roasted beetroot to the plate, then dress the lettuce with the anchovy dressing and place roughly over the plate. Spread out some of the pickled beetroot and then garnish the salad with the black olives and serve.