Mackerel Niçoise

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

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
Lunch
Fish course
Pescatarian
Gluten-free
Mediterranean

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