REFRESHING TUNA SALAD

I don't know about you but sometimes all we want for supper is a beautiful crisp salad with a great dressing, some tricked-up tuna, maybe a little something spicy on the side and some very fresh, very delicious bread slathered with French butter. When we first moved to Kuching, you couldn't buy sourdough bread in the bakeries. Or French butter in the supermarkets. I tried to make the bread myself but I have to admit it wasn't fantastic. However, now we have a fantastic local bakery (@FED) where we bought this delicious Cheddar, Sundried Tomato & Garlic Confit Sourdough. And I even found real Italian olives - not those tasteless ones in jars. (I know this must sound weird to all you people living in big cities or well-stocked towns where everything is readily available but here, good bread and great quality butter and real olives are a big deal. For us anyway.) This recipe for tuna salad is so simple I'm not even sure it qualifies as a recipe. Or even particularly special. But I'm going to share it anyway in case you haven't thought of including a simple salad in your comfort zone.

INGREDIENTS

SALAD:

1 fresh crunchy lettuce like romaine or iceberg, rinsed and dried in a salad spinner and pulled apart into bite size portions

some cherry tomatoes, washed and dried

1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced

a few juicy olives, black or green (or both)

DRESSING:

2 garlic cloves, peeled and mashed

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp sea salt

a few grinds of black pepper

1 tsp white sugar or honey

6 - 8 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil, preferably green

TUNA:

2 x cans (300g) tuna chunks in olive oil, drained and 'mooshed' up with a fork

1/2 red onion, finely chopped,

1 tbsp good mayonnaise with 1 tsp sriracha hot chilli sauce mixed in

juice of 1/2 lemon

sea salt and black pepper to taste

KIMCHI (Korean spicy cabbage - optional)

(I cheated here and bought it from one of our favourite restos)

METHOD

Toss all your salad ingredients together in a large bowl.

To make the dressing, mix the first six ingredients together in a small bowl and slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking all the time until the oil is totally incorporated.

(There's enough here for a few salads so store what you don't use in a stoppered glass bottle in the fridge. Just make sure you give it a good shake before re-using.)

Put the drained tuna into another bowl.

Add the onions, mayo/sriracha combo, lemon juice and seasoning and mix well.

Arrange your salad on a plate.

Add a few tsp of the dressing.

Place a mound of tricked-up tuna next to the salad.

Serve with the best, freshest bread and butter you can find.

And an icy glass of pinot gris or verdelho