Well, sometimes I am reminded that cooking can be a lot like a science experiment. We have a saying at the lab, be wary of things that work perfectly the first time, because they may never work that well again. Today I learned the same lesson at home. I didn’t have any problems making the mayo the first time however, today… it just didn’t work. I thought I had done everything correctly, but I should have known that Marcella would have the answer and she did. The second time around I heated the bowl and beaters before starting and I left the egg to warm up for about 30 minutes before I started. This made all of the difference in the world. It set up perfectly the second time. I used a mixture of half EVOO and half vegetable oil with the pasteurized egg yolk, of course. I added the lemon, chopped anchovy and capers and it tasted great.
I wish I could be as enthusiastic about the tuna and potato roll. I love tuna and eat it all the time. However, I don’t think I am a fan of poached fish. The tuna, potato, parmesan and egg mixture seemed appealing before I poached it. As a matter of fact I had to stop myself from sampling it at that point. The poaching liquid was pretty basic. Lots of veggies and white wine, you can’t go wrong there! It smelled great at first. The longer it cooked though, the fish smell got stronger. I poached it for the 45 minutes that the recipe calls for and then unrolled it. I let it cool and then cut and plated it. I then took the mayo mixture and piped it onto the slices of tuna roll and then added the slivers of Kalamata Olives.
Marcella recommended overlapping the tuna slices and then piping the mayo on top. My slices were a little tender, so it was easier for me to reshape them flat on the plate. I think it looks pretty good. This challenge will definitely make me better at the arrangement of the food on the plate. In the past I was more worried about the taste of the food instead of about how it looked, but this is really teaching me to take more time with the appearance.

So, for what it is worth this is the first recipe that I have tried that I probably wouldn’t make again. I think for people who like poached fish it would be great. However, that just isn’t me.