Salade Nicoise

Published on May 30, 2019 | By
salad nicoise

Salade Nicoise, a staple of Provence in Southern France. Think Nice, beaches, and the Mediterranean Sea. In its purest form, a proper Nicoise salad is supposed to have either tuna or anchovies but not both. Also, canned tuna is typically served rather than fresh tuna that has been grilled or seared. That’s not to say that you can’t use your imagination and reinterpret and update this traditional salad according to your tastes and preferences.

I prefer to make mine as I have had it served to me many times over the years in traditional french brasseries here and abroad with canned tuna, anchovies, potatoes, olives, green beans, tomatoes and hard boiled eggs lightly bathed in a dijon mustard vinaigrette, and assembled or composed on a platter or an individual plate. Here is your foundation for a traditional Nicoise, salade composee . Immerse yourself in the tradition or re-create your version of this Provencal staple.

    • Prep Time
    • Minutes
    • Cook Time
    • Minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb green beans or the small haricot verts, cleaned and blanched
  • 8 small red new potatoes
  • 2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
  • 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 cups lettuce, butter lettuce is preferable or mixed greens
  • 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced
  • 1-12 oz can of tuna drained
  • 1/4 cup nicoise or Kalamata olives
  • 4-6 anchovy filets
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup dijon vinaigrette
  • 1 TBSP capers, optional
  • 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Instructions

  1. Choose a large platter that will hold 4 servings of the salad or you may choose to assemble the Nicoise on individual plates.
  2. Hard boil the eggs. Peel and quarter the eggs. Blanche the green beans (see technique for blanching in sur le plat basics) and cool in an ice bath. When cooled, drain and set aside. Put the new potatoes in a medium sized pot and boil gently until you can easily pierce them with a thin knife. Do not overcook because you want them to remain firm and not turn into mashed potatoes . Set aside in a small bowl.
  3. Make 1/2 cup of dijon mustard vinaigrette (see recipe in sur le plat basics). Toss the green beans with a tablespoon of the vinaigrette. When the potatoes have cooled, cut into thick slices or quarter and toss gently with 1 tablespoon of the vinaigrette . Salt and pepper to taste.
  4. In a separate bowl, toss the lettuce with a couple of tablespoons of the mustard vinaigrette to gently coat the leaves. Salt and pepper to taste. Slice the peeled and seeded cucumbers and set aside. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Drain the tuna. Place in a small bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with capers (optional).
  5. Now comes the fun part..the assembling of the salad or the composee. There are no rules except to make the salad look as beautiful and inviting as possible.
  6. Place the lettuce on the platter or plate first. This will serve as your foundation. The rest is up to you. I typically arrange the beans, potatoes and cucumbers in clusters on the perimeter of the platter, the tuna in the middle, and then garnish artistically with the olives, eggs, and cherry tomatoes . Place the anchovies on top of the tuna and sprinkle the entire salad with fresh chopped basil. Pass the remaining vinaigrette at the table for guests to use if more sauce is needed. Voila! Salade composee!
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