Wine Style Recipe: Oil-Packed Tuna with Potatoes, Olives, and Lemon
July 27 marks the release date of my new book, Wine Style. Hooray! With that in mind, I wanted to share a sneak peak inside the book with this recipe. I learned how to make this salad on a steamy-hot afternoon in Bacoli, an ancient suburb of Naples. There, the Di Meo family tends their vineyards grown around the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. They also have an impressive garden growing more San Marzano tomatoes than one family can possibly eat alone. For lunch, we made this simple salad. Which, while I lead with tuna in the title, is really a potato salad with tuna as an accent.
For a really pretty version, seek out castelfranco chicory, which has the speckled leaves shown in this picture taken by Erin Scott and styled by Lillian Kang. The salad comes together easily, but keep in mind that the salt , lemon juice, and olive oil are used in a few different places (so don’t add all the salt all at once).
2 pounds yellow potatoes (such as Yukon gold), cut into large chunks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large juicy tomato, diced
1/4 cup black olives (preferably oil-cured), pitted and sliced
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
One 4- to 6-ounce can or jar oil-packed tuna
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 cups torn romaine or chicory leaves (such as escarole, castelfranco, raddichio, or treviso)
In a large pot, cover the potatoes with cold water and add the 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to medium and cook until the potatoes can be pierced easily with a fork, 18 to 20 minutes.
Drain the potatoes and let sit until cool enough to handle but still warm. Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl and gently mix in the 3 tablespoons oil and 3/4 teaspoon of the remaining salt. (Mixing while the potatoes are still warm allows the starches to absorb more oil.) Once the potatoes are at room temperature, gently mix in the tomato, olives, and the 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Put the tuna in a small bowl and mix with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon of the remaining lemon juice, and the pepper.
Put the lettuce/chicory in a large serving bowl and mix with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Put the potatoes on the chicories and scatter the tuna on top.
Wine Pairing: Albariño, Falanghina, and other coastal Mediterranean whites work well; so does unoaked Chardonnay. Look for tasting notes that mention acidity and accents of lemon and honey; skip wines that are overly floral or fruity.
Reprinted with permission from Wine Style: Discover the Wines You Will Love Through 50 Simple Recipes by Kate Leahy, copyright © 2021. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Photographs copyright © 2021 by Erin Scott