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Fishwife Albacore Niçoise-ish Smash

🍽️ serves 2⏱️ prep 5 min🔥 cook 0 min📖 Partard's Pub
tunaseafoodquickno-cookFrenchcaperstinned fish
Fishwife Albacore Niçoise-ish Smash

Notes

French pantry meets Austin afternoon. Stupid easy, actually elegant. The key move is not draining the tin — that Spanish olive oil IS the dressing. Fishwife Albacore does 80% of the work here; everything else just gets out of the way and lets it shine. Tarragon (even dried) is the secret weapon.

Ingredients

For the smash: - 1 tin Fishwife Albacore Tuna in Olive Oil (do NOT drain) - 2 tbsp Kewpie mayo (Duke's works, Kewpie is better) - 1 tsp Dijon mustard - 1 small shallot, very finely minced - 1 tbsp capers, roughly chopped - Zest of ½ lemon + a good squeeze of juice - ½ tsp dried tarragon (crumble between fingers before adding) - Flaky salt + cracked black pepper

Optional but highly recommended: - Pale inner celery heart stalks, thin-sliced

For serving: - Toasted sourdough, butter lettuce cups, or good crackers

Instructions

  1. Open the tin and pour contents — tuna AND all the olive oil — into a bowl. Break up the tuna gently with a fork. You want big chunks, not paste. Respect the flake.
  2. Crumble dried tarragon between your fingers and add to the bowl.
  3. Fold in mayo, Dijon, shallot, capers, lemon zest and juice. Add celery if using. Season with flaky salt and cracked pepper.
  4. Taste. It'll tell you if it needs more lemon or salt. Listen to it.
  5. Serve on toasted sourdough, in butter lettuce cups, or piled on crackers. Best eaten immediately, ideally with something cold and white in the other hand.

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

Estimated from the ingredients — amounts and serving size vary, so treat it as a ballpark.

Variations & Adaptations