This feels very Mediterranean Diet to me on purpose and while I happened to love anchovies many people don’t, so just use a dressing you do like. The baby tomatoes were cooked in a skill until they burst – they taste different to and have a different texture when cooked. Use tuna fillets (I use the Tonnino brand) which are firmer than some canned tuna. Capers, olives, cannellini beans and red onion round out the dish and it is nestled on a bed of arugula. For the dressing I used a pestle and mortar to break down the anchovies.
1 tbsp. olive oil
12 sweet baby tomatoes
Arugula – enough to line a salad bowl well
1 can of cannellini beans – drained and rinsed
1 x 6.7 oz. jar of tuna fillets – drained and rinsed and flaked
12 black pitted black olives – quartered
1 tbsp. capers
1 slice of red onion – finely diced
Heat 1 tbsp. of oil in a small skillet and, when hot, add the tomatoes and leave to cook, stirring occasionally, until they burst.
Line the salad bowl with arugula and scatter over the tomatoes, beans,flaked tuna, olives, capers and onion.
Dressing
4 anchovy fillets
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tbsp. olive oil
A small amount of chopped parsley – a scant dessertspoonful
Place the anchovies, mustard and lemon juice in a pestle and mortar and use the pestle to break up the anchovies.
Measure in the oil and whisk together until emulsified.
Sprinkle in the parsley and whisk again. Spoon over the salad and toss well.
I would let the salad stand for half an hour before serving so dressing can blend in.
