Crunchy Winter (Pescatarian) Chef’s Salad
Recipe by: Ryoko Yoshida
Serves 4
This is a salad that can come together as quickly as you can chop some veggies. The ingredients can be swapped to your liking or based on what you have in your fridge. The key is to have a mix of raw crunchy vegetables (like radishes and cucumber) to complement the lush textures of the tuna and the olives. Throwing in a quick pickle of fennel is what really makes this salad pop.
Ingredients:
½ bulb Fennel, sliced 1/4 inch thick
5 oz. Leafy Green (baby spinach, Mizuna, wild arugula or any other tender green you have in your fridge)
1 Cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 Avocado, halved, pitted & sliced
2-3 pieces winter radishes, sliced 1/8 inch thick
5-6 slices Meyer lemon, quartered and deseeded
3 Scallions, sliced
2 sprigs Mint, torn
12 pieces Thassos Oil Cured Olives, pitted & torn in half
1 Jar Spanish Olive Oil Cured Yellow Fin Tuna
Frantoia Cutera Primo Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Directions:
In a small bowl, season fennel with salt and sherry vinegar, tossing to coat and massaging slightly so it begins to wilt. Allow fennel to marinade while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Remove tuna from jar and place in a small bowl*. Break into smaller pieces being careful not to shred. Add half of the sliced scallions and a coating of EVOO and gently fold together. Assemble the salad by putting the leafy greens and torn mint leaves on the base of the plate. Top the greens with each of the raw vegetables, pickled fennel, olives and tuna. Top the salad with the rest of the scallions. Season generously with Maldon salt and black pepper, focusing on the vegetables and tuna. Finish with sherry vinegar and EVOO to taste.
*Save reserved tuna oil and use it next time you’re making a Caesar salad dressing. It helps intensify the oily richness of the anchovies.