Blunkett Salad

The bread is torn and soaked in the dressing rather than fried, so it goes soft on purpose.

Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 300 g stale crusty bread, torn
• 200 g tinned tuna in oil, drained
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered
• 2 tablespoons harissa
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway
• 12 black olives
• 1 tablespoon capers
• salt

Method

1. THE BREAD IS TORN AND SOAKED IN THE DRESSING RATHER THAN FRIED, so it goes soft on purpose. That is the distinction worth making, because the other bread salads of the region fry or toast their bread and add it at the last second precisely to keep it crisp. Here the stale bread is torn into rough pieces, the harissa dressing is poured over it, and it is left ten or fifteen minutes to drink it and collapse into something between a salad and a soft pudding. It is a filling dish built on using up a dry loaf, and crispness is not what it is for.
2. THE BREAD MUST BE STALE AND CRUSTY. Two or three days old, with a proper crust. Fresh bread turns to paste the moment the dressing touches it; a dry open crumb swells and holds its shape while going soft, which is the texture wanted.
3. THE DRESSING IS MIXED FIRST AND POURED OVER, NOT ADDED PIECEMEAL. Harissa worked into the oil until smooth, then lemon, caraway and salt. Harissa spooned onto bread in lumps gives fierce patches and bland patches; emulsified into the oil first it coats everything evenly.
4. IT IS LEFT TO STAND TEN OR FIFTEEN MINUTES AND NO MORE. Long enough for the bread to soften through, short enough that it has not become a single mass. Half an hour and it is porridge.
5. THE TUNA'S OIL IS NOT WASTED. Drained from the tin straight into the dressing. It is well-seasoned and fishy and it belongs in the bowl.
6. THE ONION IS SLICED THIN AND LEFT RAW. It is the only crunch in a deliberately soft dish, so it is cut fine and added at the end rather than soaked with the bread.
7. EVERYTHING ELSE GOES ON TOP AT THE END. Tuna, eggs, olives, capers, tomato -- arranged over the soaked bread rather than folded in. Mixed through, the eggs break up and the whole bowl turns one colour.
8. The harissa worked into the olive oil until smooth, then the lemon juice, the oil drained from the tuna tin, the caraway and salt.
9. The stale bread TORN into rough pieces and put in a wide bowl.
10. The dressing POURED OVER and turned through once.
11. LEFT TO STAND 10 to 15 MINUTES, until the bread has softened through.
12. The sliced onion and diced tomato folded in.
13. The tuna, quartered eggs, olives and capers arranged ON TOP.
14. TESTED: the bread should be soft and swollen but still in distinguishable pieces. One mass means it stood too long or the bread was fresh.
15. Eaten at once, at room temperature.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Tunisia · All recipes