Braised Shallots in Tuna Sauce

This is an unusual dish I chose on our road trip over Christmas and New Year's. We were making our way back from Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland, and our friends had offered us their place in Sydney to stay. The day before they arrived home. It only seemed apt we made them dinner the next night. It was fun working in someone else's kitchen, working with different equipment and ingredients at hand. Overall it turned out great, but I would have held back on the salt, mostly because there's quite a bit of it in the capers and anchovies.

20 small shallots, peeled
olive oil for baking
2 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons capers
10 anchovy fillets
3/4 quantity Mayonnaise
1 x 425 g tin dolphin-friendly tuna, drained and flaked
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
pale celery leaves (from centre of bunch), to garnish

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C (400 deg F). Place the shallots on a baking tray and sprinkle with olive oil, cook until brown - about 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the tuna sauce. Place the garlic, capers and anchovies in the food processor and blitz to a puree. Turn the processor off. Add the mayonnaise and tuna to the puree, and use the pulse button, cautiously, to combine the ingredients. Taste the sauce, and add lemon juice and salt and pepper as needed.

Remove the shallots from the oven and allow them to cool. Arrange them on a serving dish. Spoon the sauce over the shallots - they should be quite well covered - and scatter with celery leaves.