A wildly entertaining and practical cookbook filled with shortcuts and permission to do it your own way, by Donna Hay’s right-hand woman. As Donna herself says: ‘Lucy has a special gift. Everything she touches turns to magical, sparkling loveliness.’ Some days you want to cook; other days the goal is simply ‘food in mouths’. Welcome to Every Night of the Week, a cookbook for people who don’t like hard-and-fast recipes, by food and recipe writer, stylist and Instagram genie Lucy Tweed.
Tinned Tuna Nicoise Salad
THIS IS SUCH A GREAT ‘WORK’ SALAD. Make it in a lunchbox like this: potatoes, beans, tomatoes first, then herb thickener. Top with tuna mix, then the lettuce and a whole egg. If you do it in this order, the lettuce will stay crisp. You’ll be so impressed with yourself you’ll want to deliberately walk around the office munching on it, interrupting casual meetings and pointing at things with your fork while you chat until someone sparks up, ‘Oooh, what have you got today?’ or ‘That looks great, who made it?’ yada yada. Don’t do this. You are eating egg and tuna. It’s the greatest office offence after #metoo.
SERVES 4
3 tablespoons herb thickener
HERB THICKENER
100 g (3½ oz) leftover herbs (flat-leaf or curly parsley, mint, basil, dill, coriander, oregano, chives)
2 cups (500 ml) olive oil
1 tablespoon sea salt
Optional ingredients:
To make it a bit more salsa verde:
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar and a pinch of chilli flakes
Blend everything together until smooth. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze in ice-cube trays for 3 months.
Makes about 2 cups (500 ml)
TUNA MIX
2 x 185 g tins tuna in olive oil, drained
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
3–4 tablespoons chopped gherkins pickled with dill
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
2 teaspoons baby capers, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped dill
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
SALAD
8 baby potatoes, boiled in very salty water until tender, then sliced
250 g green beans, tails trimmed, blanched
4 tomatoes, sliced
4 x 7-minute eggs*, peeled and halved lengthways
2 baby cos lettuces, trimmed, washed and quartered
OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
A smug outlook, considering you’ve maintained some bowl goals this far into the week
*7-minute eggs work well at sea level. Boil water. Eggs from the fridge, prick fat ends with a pin. Lower into water, start timer. Drain, cool slightly and peel. The higher up the mountain, the longer you need to boil the eggs. There is a science here that’s just too instructional to add to this book.
For the tuna mix, combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
Same for the salad ingredients.
Divide the salad and tuna mix among four bowls and drizzle with the herb thickener.
Find another recipe from Every Night of the Week in the latest issue of The Penguin Post magazine.
Extracted from Every Night of the Week by Lucy Tweed, out now.
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY
Recipes: The Ultimate Salad Book by Chantal Lascaris