Spanish chopped salad with tuna and chorizo

“This flavour packed salad uses things I often have in the pantry at home, all we need is some bright leaves, the chorizo - which adds a gorgeous smoky, salty kick - and a good piece of tuna. Use less tuna if you’re being thrifty, it goes a long way. I even love this without the tuna, and add some green beans or avocado, even a couple of poached eggs to be folded through at the table. Yes! ”

— kate

Spanish chopped salad with tuna and chorizo

serves 4 | prep time 15 mins | cook time 10 mins

• 1 x 425 g (15 oz) tin organic chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry with paper towel

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 teaspoons hot paprika (or sweet, if you prefer)

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 60 g (2¼ oz) dried chorizo, cut into lardons

• 300 g (10½ oz) fresh yellow fin tuna

• 1 large head butter lettuce or 3 baby cos (romaine), chopped into 3 cm (1¼ in) chunks

• 2–3 radicchio leaves, torn (use more if you have a whole head, depending on your tastes)

• 1 spring onion (scallion), white part only, finely sliced diagonally

• 1 roasted capsicum (pepper), cut into strips (roast in the oven whole or use capsicum marinated in oil from a jar)

• 1 handful flat-leaf ( Italian) parsley leaves, chopped

• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted

  SPICY SPANISH DRESSING

• 1 tablespoon hot smoked paprika

• 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) lemon juice

• 2 tinned anchovies, finely chopped

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• freshly ground black pepper

For the spicy Spanish dressing, combine all the ingredients except the pepper in a jar and shake well until thick. Add a little more olive oil, if liked, shaking between each taste, and season with pepper. Set aside and shake again before serving.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Put the chickpeas, 2 tablespoons of the oil, paprika and ½ teaspoon of sea salt in a bowl and toss together to coat. Spread onto prepared tray and bake for 20 minutes, or until crispy and golden. Set aside to cool.

Heat a small frying pan over a high heat, fry the chorizo in no oil until golden and crisp, then set aside.

Season the tuna with salt and pepper and coat with the remaining olive oil. Heat a frying pan until very hot and cook the tuna for 2–3 minutes each side, or until seared but still quite rare. Set aside to rest.

In a medium bowl, toss together the lettuce, radicchio, chorizo, spring onion and 1–2 tablespoons of the dressing. Transfer to a serving plate. Break the tuna into pieces over the salad and garnish with roasted capsicum, parsley, chickpeas and almonds. Drizzle over a little more dressing to taste.

QUICK TIP

To toast almonds, cook them in a dry frypan, tossing them around until just golden.

This recipe appeared in Margaret and Me (Murdoch), my third cookbook. Photography by Rob Palmer. Styling by Michelle Noerianto.