The devil is in the detail, as the saying goes. The original version of the phrase was actually “God is in the detail”, so whichever way you look at it, details clearly make a difference. Today’s recipe is a perfect example of this. It would be a simple tomato and onion salad, were it not for the capers, mint, and above all lemon zest. But it’s precisely these minor additions that make the salad worth telling you about. And nor should we overlook the most important detail of all: this is a salad for tuna, not a tuna salad.

A salad for tuna but not a tuna salad?

Perhaps some clarification is in order. As said, this is not a tuna salad (‘insalata di tonno’), but a salad for tuna (‘insalata per tonno’). I’ll provide some background. I was grilling some tuna steaks and wanted a side dish to go with them. A tomato and onion salad of course is a classic accompaniment to anything rich in flavour and grilled, and onion in particular offsets tuna perfectly.

But I wanted something a little more tailor-made, a salad designed specifically for tuna, and so I added two more classic Sicilian accompaniments: mint (often used in cooked tuna dishes in western Sicily) and capers (which crop up in tuna salads in Sicily’s Aeolian Islands amongst other places). Then, instead of simple lemon juice, I added the zest too, which really cuts through the rich flavoured tuna meat and cleanses the palate.

This, as said, is salad for tuna, not tuna salad, although since it is designed to be served with tuna, you could simply mix in some tinned or cooked fresh tuna and turn it into a main course salad in its own right.

What do I need?

As with any salad, where ingredients may well be, as in this case, raw, the quality of your aptly named “raw” materials is paramount. That ideally means making this in the summer, when tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and mint are in season. I hardly need specify it, but use the best extra virgin olive oil you can lay your hands on, preferably Sicilian. And as for the capers, if you can find any from Sicily’s outlying islands, such as Salina or Pantelleria, even better. If you can only get hold of waxed lemons, make sure you remove any outer coating with hot water before taking your zester to them.

For 4:

• 400g ripe piccadilly tomatoes, halved lengthways and sliced fairly thickly
• Half a cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced to the same thickness as the tomatoes
• 1 medium red onion, sliced finely lengthways
• 1 heaped tablespoon salted capers, well rinsed
• 1 handful of fresh mint and basil leaves, chopped
• Juice of half an unwaxed lemon and zest of the whole lemon
• 1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Good pinch each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

How do I make it?

1. Delicately mix all the ingredients together and serve immediately. As with most tomato-based salads, this is best eaten as soon as possible, since prolonged contact with salt will soften its flesh, as well as that of the cucumber and onion, depriving the salad of its attractive texture.

What do I serve it with?

Well, tuna, obviously, but also other rich-tasting oily fish such as fresh sardines or anchovies. It goes equally well with lamb chops: capers, onions and tomatoes are classic pairings for lamb, and the lemon adds a refreshing, palate-cleansing note.