Tartare of Tuna and lentil salad

A very tasty recipe of Martine Gingras. I intended to make it with organic salmon, but I just happened to stumble upon some line-caught tuna (i.e. dolphin-friendly and not previously frozen), so tuna it was to be.

First prepare the lentils:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 1/2 cup Puy lentils
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
• 1/2 tbsp tarragon
• pepper and salt to taste
• 2 tbsp good mayonaise

Saute the shallots in the butter and olive oil until golden. Add the lentils, the tarragon and the stock. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minuets until the lentils are tender. Drain off excess liquid (if necessary) and let stand to cool. (All this can be done a day in advance).

In the meantime, prepare the tuna tartare. Simply mix the following ingredients and let tehm get used to eachother for an hour or so.

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp chopped capers
• 1 shallot, minced very fine
• juice of not more than half a lemon (Martine suggests a whole lemon, but that would be far too much)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 3 large basil leaves, finely sliced
• 300 g very fresh tuna, finely diced
• dash of olive oil
• pepper and salt to taste

Now assemble the dish in two layers. You could do this with a large cookie-cutter ring, or in a deep plate which you turn over later on. The idea is that you press the tuna a bit into the lentils, a bit in the same way the sushi-chef presses his fish into the sushi rice when preparing a nigiri.

Meanwhile, I attended my first meeting of SlowFood London.