Tuna Gallego Salad

This recipe is relatively simple to assemble and it will be sure to delight and impress your guests

At DALINA, our Tuna Gallego salad is one of the most popular dishes on the menu. The mixture of vegetables, beans and seared tuna makes for a colourful and satisfying dish, perfect for a healthy lunch or a light dinner.

At the café, we use pickled onions instead of red onions and we include marinated octopus, but we’ve left those off here to make it easier for the home chef (if you’re feeling adventurous though, be sure to throw them in!).

Don’t let the number of ingredients discourage you—a lot of them are for the dressing and the tuna rub.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 medium cloves garlic, grated with a microplane (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1 teaspoon mild smoked paprika
• ¼ cup and 1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds, divided 
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 medium red onion, minced (about 1 cup)
• 200 grams cherry tomatoes
• 100 grams green beans
• 12 oz butter beans
• 8 oz cannellini beans
• 1 stalk of celery, peeled and cut on a bias into ¼-inch slices
• 1 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• 2 sticks of celery (60 g) cut diagonally 
• 100 grams green olives (Castelvetrano, cerignola or picholine)
• 80 grams caper berries
• 10 grams Italian parsley 
• Juice and zest of one lemon
• 1 Albacore tuna loin
• 2 to 3 tablespoons grape seed oil
• 40 grams sesame seeds 
• 10 grams dill
• 10 grams fresh mint
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Combine 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, smoked paprika, garlic, 1 teaspoon of ground fennel and the cumin in a medium skillet and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until fragrant and starting to bubble gently, about 2 minutes. Set aside this spiced oil for use in the dressing.
2. Dice the red onions and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. 
3. Blanch the green beans in salted boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes. Cool down immediately in iced water to retain their colour.
4. Rinse the cannellini and butter beans under cold water.
5. Combine all the beans, vinegar, onion, celery, olives, caper berries, cherry tomatoes, parsley, the spiced oil, the rest of the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Once the salad is ready, you can prepare the tuna.
6. Remove the belly from the Albacore* tuna.
7. Mix the remaining ¼ cup of ground fennel seeds, the sesame seeds, some salt and pepper in a wide shallow bowl. Coat all sides of the Albacore tuna in the spice mix.
8. Heat the grape seed oil in a cast iron skillet, over medium-high heat. When pan is smoking (you want the oil to be hot), carefully lay the tuna in the hot oil. Sear each side about 1 to 1½ minutes or until golden on all sides. You want the edges seared just until golden and crispy, but the middle cooked rare.
9. Now we can assemble the salad. Slice the tuna in ¼-inch slices with a very sharp knife. Plate the bean salad on one large plate or individual plates and top with the tuna slices.
10. Garnish with the fresh dill and mint and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Serves 6

*You can substitute Ahi tuna.