Ahi Tuna Nicoise Salad

Have you seen Jamie Oliver's 15 min meals on CBS on Saturday mornings? It's a great show - how can you not like Jamie Oliver? His concept is interesting - he claims you can make a healthy meal for 4 in only 15 min. The show makes it look easy enough. In practice though, it's not quite that easy. I was drawn to this recipe because you make a basil sauce and use it a few ways - as a marinade, a salad dressing and topping for the cooked fish. It was pretty fast, all in all.

For the sauces:
1 bunch basil
6 anchovy filets
1 lemon
4 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar
1 t whole grain mustard
1 t honey

For the salad:
1 bag Mixed green and yellow beans (the kind you steam in)
12 black olives, pits removed
3 ripe mixed color tomatoes
1 head of romaine lettuce
1 oz feta cheese
1 lemon

For the tuna:
2 - 6oz ahi tuna steaks (very fresh, sushi grade)

1. Cook beans in microwave according to package directions.
2. Make sauce base: put basil, anchovy, juice of lemon, oil and a splash of water into blender and blend until smooth. Pour about 40% in a bowl and set aside. Use 10% as a marinade for the fish - rub into fish with salt and pepper. With remaining half of sauce, add vinegar, mustard and honey, blend again. Mix with beans, olives and tomatoes.
3. Put tuna in heated pan (or griddle pan), cooking 2 min on each side. Chop lettuce, add dressed veggies. Top with sliced tuna, top tuna with reserved basil sauce and crumbled feta.

He has a whole cook book of recipes for 15 min meals. What's not included in the time is heating of the pans or boiling of water. His trick is that you use an electric kettle to boil water and if your pan is hot and you add boiling water, then it keeps boiling. Smart idea. Some of the things that I have noticed while watching this show is that it really doesn't feel like every day food to me. Take this recipe for this salad as an example - to get the fish, I had to go to the upscale market (for me, it's Wegmans) and I only bought 1 tuna steak because of the expense. The method may be simple and quick, but I'm not so sure of the affordability. Company fare, more like. Delicious, to be sure.