Mackerel Niçoise

Name: Mackerel Niçoise
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 350 g waxy new potatoes, eg Charlotte or Jerseys, well scrubbed; 1 tablespoon light olive oil; a handful of good black olives in oil, drained and pitted if preferred; 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar; 8 good salted anchovy fillets in oil, drained; 2 large mackerel, gutted and degilled; ½ short stalk of rosemary; a handful of small fresh basil leaves; 100 g vine cherry tomatoes; 2 small free-range egg yolks; 2 tablespoons baby capers, drained; a splash of hot water, if needed; 2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped; 125 g fine green beans, stalks trimmed; 4 small free-range eggs (at room temperature); 100 ml light olive oil; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; flaked sea salt and ground black pepper; 1-2 baby Gem lettuce; 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

What to Eat Now (Spring & Summer)

By Valentine Warner

Published 2009

About

This reminds me of happy days in the South of France eating lunch on some harbour, looking at the boats from under the shade of an umbrella, drawing on the paper tablecloth and slowly becoming drowsy with little carafes of chilled white wine. Mackerel is an excellent replacement for tuna.

Ingredients

2 large mackerel, gutted and degilled
flaked sea salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon light olive oil

Europe
France
Fish course
Lunch
Salad
Pescatarian
Mediterranean
Gluten-free

Method

First make the dressing. Strip the leaves from the rosemary (you should be left with roughly a teaspoonful) and put in a blender with the egg yolks, garlic, mustard, vinegar and lemon juice. Blend until well combined, then slowly, in a thin dribble, add the oil. If the dressing appears too thick, add a splash of hot water and blend until the dressing reaches a double cream-like pouring consiste