Luscious Lunches: The Nicoise Power Bowl

I’m lucky in that part of my work-life includes cooking and eating food (it’s hard but someone has to do it!). When I am working at home I try to cook myself a lunch which let’s me try out ideas for my campervan cookbooks. Some are best forgotten but some turn out ‘luscious’ and I’d like to share this luscious one with you: ‘The Nicoise Power bowl’

First, what is a power bowl? They are all the rage at the moment and I love them because it is a nutritious meal all in one bowl. Find out more about Power Bowls here

My lunchtime power bowl today had a Salad Nicoise theme. It included:

  • Pan-fried tuna steak
  • Hard-boiled egg
  • Sauteed new potatoes
  • Sun-dried tomatoes from a jar
  • Green salad of spinach and rocket leaves from a packet
  • Avocado & Lime dressing
  • pan-fried golden garlic bread

I know it sounds like a lot to do but it is really easy and some of the ingredients were using up stuff I’d made the day before, like the Avocado & Lime dressing and the hard-boiled egg.

To Make the Sauteed Potatoes:

  1. Cut some small new potatoes in half and boil them until cooked
  2. Drain the saucepan and add a large knob of butter plus a tsp of a light cooking oil to the same pan and fry until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

To Cook the Tuna:

  1. Add a little oil and butter to a frying pan and just cook the steaks for about 3-5 minutes on each side depending on how thick your steak is and how pink you like your tuna steak inside.

To Make the Avocado & Lime Dressing:

Avocado Dressing Side

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  1. Just add all ingredients to a high-sided bowl and mash with fork or small whisk. If you want it extra smooth you can put it in a blender but most people won’t have that in a campervan and, frankly, who can be bothered.
  2. Ingredients: 1 ripe avocado/ 1 clove of garlic finely chopped/ juice of 1 lime/ 3 tbsps of olive oil/ 1 tbsp of runny honey/ pinch of salt and pepper/ a little water to the consistency you prefer.

To Assemble the Bowl:

  1. Lay some baby spinach and rocket leaves on the bottom of a wide bowl and dress with the Avocado & Lime dressing
  2. Place the sliced egg, sliced tuna and sauteed potatoes on top
  3. Add some sun-dried tomatoes from a jar to the bowl and use some of the oil in the jar to drizzle over the tuna pieces

And there you have it! The joy is this meal is nice eaten hot or cold and any leftovers can be kept in the fridge for the next day.

To Make the Golden Garlic Bread I used my pan-fry technique:

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  • Cut a panini in half horizontally and spread the inside with garlic & herb butter
  • Put the bread in the pan dry-side down and let it heat up. You will see the butter melt in to the bread.
  • Flip the bread over so that butter side is now facing down and cook for a minute or two until golden brown.

And Let’s Not Forget Dessert…

I love berries and they are amazingly good for you being full of vitamins, fibre and anti-oxidants. (Did you also know that strawberries have micro filaments that run from the centre to the pips that help to pull mercury out of your body! Is it just me who jumps around like an excited child when they hear these things?). So for my luscious lunch I had some of the stewed raspberries and blackberries that I had made the day before which I had sweetened with a little elderflower cordial and Stevia drops. Berries can be expensive so I often buy them when they are on the reduced section in the supermarket and just stew them up. Today I had it with some Greek yoghurt with a little runny honey drizzled on top. What’s not to like!

Stewed Fruit-Yoghurt 16.03.17

I have to say, this meal was so good I could almost imagine that I was on holiday somewhere on the Mediterranean coast in our campervan. Sigh…

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