Dinner with Friends

by Heather

Our close friends, Susan and Rol, were saying goodbye to Susan's sister, Sally and her husband, Jim, who were heading back to Omaha, Nebraska, after their winter stay in Scottsdale. Over the years, we've gotten to know Sally and Jim and count them as dear friends, too.

Tom and I wanted to send them off in style with a small dinner party; their only request was "no meat." Seafood would be fine, however. Generally, my go-to seafood for entertaining is crab legs which require no prep time -- important for a working woman. However, Susan isn't a meat or fish eater but really loves all types of salads.

What to do?

Salad Nicoise was the perfect answer.
When served in France, it's generally made with canned tuna but that didn't seem special enough so I found a recipe (at the end of this post) using fresh tuna instead.

I wanted the table to reflect the ocean and feeling of the impending summer season (remember, this is Arizona so we rush through Spring pretty quickly).

Pottery Barn place mats; Martha Stewart white dinner plates; seashell salad plates from Home Goods; small seashell plates from Wests Elm; Pottery Barn napkin rings

Glasses from Ballard Designs

I painted seashells gold to match the gold rims of the glasses; Pottery Barn name card bottle

In a past post, I told the story behind the piece of driftwood that husband Tom made into a candle holder.

Sally, Tom, and Susan.
Rol and Jim were outside taking advantage of the beautiful evening (and having a cigar) 

Salad Nicoise with Fresh Tuna 

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

Serves: 8

Ingredients

Vinaigrette:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:

• 1 pound small red new potatoes, scrubbed and halved
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 pound haricots verts or French green beans, stems trimmed
• 2 pounds fresh sushi-quality tuna (I used ahi tuna)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pint teardrop or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup nicoise olives
• 16 anchovy fillets
• 16 caper berries with stems
• 1/2 bunch fresh chives, snipped in 1/2
• fresh mixed salad greens (I added these to act as a bed under the tuna and then used the nicoise salad around the edge of the platter.  The additional greens really aren't visible in my pictures so you'll have to trust me that they're there!)

Directions

• To make the vinaigrette: combine all ingredients in a mason jar. Screw the cap on the jar and shake the vinaigrette vigorously to emulsify. Set the dressing aside while preparing the salad so the flavors can marry.
• Cooking the potatoes, eggs, and green beans in the same pot cuts down on prep time and clean up. To do this, put the potatoes in a large saucepan, add water to cover and a nice pinch of salt; bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer the potatoes for 12 minutes to give them a head start, and then add the eggs. Place a steamer basket or colander on top of the simmering water. Put the green beans in the steamer and cover with a lid. Steam the beans for 5 minutes until crisp-tender while continuing to cook the potatoes until fork tender. Drain out the water and put the potatoes, eggs, and green beans in a colander; rinse briefly under cold water. Peel the shells off the eggs and cut them in 1/2 lengthwise. (To be honest, I didn't do it this way. Seemed easier to use more pots and cook things individually. As I was doing this a day ahead, time and clean-up wasn't an issue.)
• Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Rub the tuna on all sides with olive oil, and a bit of the vinaigrette; season with a fair amount of salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot pan and sear for approximately two (2) minutes on each side; as the tuna cooks, the red meat will become whiter. Transfer the tuna to a cutting board and slice.(NOTE: I did my tuna longer than two minutes since I wasn't sure all guests were fans of seared tuna. It was still really tasty!
  I did it on the grill instead of searing it in a pan. Cuts down on the "fish smell" inside the house. I cooked it the night before to cut down on prep time the day of the meal. We had leftovers for lunch the day after the dinner party that were still great so the entire salad could be prepared the day before.  The salad is served at room temperature which makes this an easy dish to prepare in advance. )
• To assemble the salad: combine the potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, olives, anchovies, capers, and chives in a large mixing bowl. Take the vinaigrette and give it another good shake to recombine. Drizzle the salad with enough vinaigrette to fully moisten (save some of the vinaigrette to drizzle over the fish before serving) and toss gently to coat; season with salt and pepper. Take care not to mush up the ingredients - the important thing about salad nicoise is that it is arranged nicely on a platter with all the elements keeping their individual integrity. Put the tossed salad down the center of a serving platter (I used salad greens for this part) and lay the seared tuna attractively across the top and the eggs around the rim. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and serve. (note: because I used salad greens as the bed for the tuna, I arranged the tossed salad of potatoes, green beans, etc., around the edge of the platter)
  

  

  Easy dessert: fresh berries over vanilla bean ice cream
To let you know just how good this was, my husband asked ever so nicely if this was a lot of work, and if it wasn't, could we have it again please.
The answer: Not too much work and we definitely need to make this again!
So nice to have something this healthy and this tasty be this easy.
The perfect meal for a warm summer evening
(or a spring evening if you happen to live in Arizona).
Happy entertaining!
Love,
Heather