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Ciabatta with tuna, tapenade, bean and heirloom tomato salad and pistou dressing
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 100g French beans, topped and tailed
- ½ fennel bulb, sliced wafer thin
- 8tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- juice of 1 lemon, plus 4 wedges, to serve
- 4 x 100g tuna steaks
- 2 small ciabatta loaves, cut in half
- 4tbsp black olive tapenade
- 4 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- basil leaves, to garnish
- courgette flowers (optional), to garnish
For the pistou dressinglarge handful of basil leaves
- large handful of basil leaves
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 50g parmesan cheese, grated
- 90ml extra virgin olive oil
Method
To make the pistou, put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Set aside.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the beans for 1 minute. Drain, and place in a large bowl along with the fennel. Toss with 4tbsp olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan, until hot. Cook the tuna steaks for 1½ minutes on each side, until golden but still rare. Remove from the heat, drizzle with the remaining lemon juice and sprinkle with sea salt. Slice and keep warm.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F/Gas 6 or heat a griddle pan. Slice the ciabatta loaves in half horizontally, drizzle with oil and bake or griddle until golden. Spread with the tapenade, then top with the bean salad, tomato slices and tuna. Drizzle over the pistou dressing and scatter over the basil leaves and torn courgette flowers, if using. Serve with lemon wedges, to squeeze over.
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