Seared Tuna Nicoise Sandwich

This sandwich is very loosely based on nicoise salad. It's got most of the ingredients of the composed salad, sans lettuce. I filled out a meal by adding a lettuce salad, as you can see in the photo.

Ingredients:

for the olive salad:
1/2 cup chopped green and kalamata olives
1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
2 Tbs. chopped pickled red pepper
2 Tbs. chopped pickled jalapeno peppers
2 Tbs. chopped red onion
2 stalks thinly sliced celery
1 Tbs. minced Italian parsley
2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

for the tuna:
1 tsp. olive oil
4 slices proscuitto
1 lb ahi tuna

to assemble:
4 slider rolls
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles (optional)

Directions:
Make the olive salad by combining all of the ingredients. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate. This can be made well ahead of time, as it keeps well in the refrigerator. If you don't eat it up in a day or two, it will keep for several weeks. The recipe is easily doubled.

Heat a large non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the proscuitto, stirring and turning, until it begins to color. Remove the proscuitto to a plate and set aside. Add the tuna to the hot pan and sear on all sides for 1 minute, until it browns nicely. Remove the tuna, slice thinly.

To assemble, toast the slider rolls. Top one half of each roll with 1/4 of the proscuitto and 1/4 of the sliced tuna. Sprinkle some of the blue cheese over the tuna. Mound several tablespoons of the olive salad on the other half of the roll. Serve.

Serves 4

Stealthy Cooking Tip: Another way to serve this is to omit the bun, piling the olive mixture on top of the lettuce, then topping everything with the seared tuna. I've tried this both ways, and it tastes delicious either way.