Salade Nicoise has been one of my favorites since my first date with Charles. We met for lunch on a pleasant spring day at a small French restaurant in Georgetown. Charles ordered crepes morvandelle and I ordered a salade Nicoise
The conversation was more carefully considered than my salad that consisted of cold boiled potatoes, tuna and green beans from tins, a few nice olives and slices of hard boiled eggs, all dressed with a simple oil and vinegar dressing.
I cannot remember if there was a lone anchovy on top or not.
In spite of the minor shortcomings of the salad the date was an unqualified success – we just celebrated our thirty-first anniversary.
Since that lunch, I have reconsidered the salade nicoise many times. I made a list of possible ingredients – tuna, potatoes, olives, green beans and anchovy are a must; supporting players include beets, onions, carrots, capers, parsley, dill, tender lettuce, and a vinaigrette. This recipe and presentation requires a fair number of bowls and steps but the results are worthy of your fanciest dinner party.
Here’s how I did it.
Salade Nicoise Deconstructed
I begin by steaming unpeeled, new potatoes and carrots until tender, blanching fresh green beans in lots of boiling water and then shocking them in ice water to preserve fresh green color, and roasting unpeeled beets until tender. The cooked vegetables are then peeled, and sliced. The carrots and potatoes are combined in a bowl with minced fresh parsley and dill and the beets are put into a separate bowl.
To mitigate the strong flavor of scallions, I sliced and soak scallions in salted ice water for half an hour then rinse and dry them before serving. I use mustard vinaigrette to dress all of the components of the salad and also as a marinade for the fresh tuna.
Mustard Vinaigrette
In a small food processor or blender, I combine three tablespoons coarse Dijon mustard, three tablespoons boiling water, half a cup of olive oil, a third of a cup of red wine vinegar, juice and zest of half a lemon, salt and pepper to taste. The mustard and boiling water will make the mixture emulsify quickly.
Dress the potatoes and carrots with a couple of spoons of vinaigrette, add chopped fresh parsley and/or fresh dill. Scallions, capers, anchovies, olives and lettuce each deserve a separate bowl of appropriate size. I put a bit of vinaigrette in the bowl with the beets. Rather than using tuna from a tin I use sushi grade tuna steak, marinated while partially frozen with a bit of the vinaigrette for about twenty minutes, and then grilled until it is seared but still raw in the center.
If I am making this salad for a crowd, it is a Do It Yourself event with all of the ingredients carefully seasoned and arranged in separate containers; when its just dinner for two or three I compose each salad on an oversize dinner plate after I have asked the anchovy question, ‘Love em or hate em?’
Deconstruction disclaimers – this is a recipe with lots of leeway, leave out what you don’t like, use red onions instead of scallions, tuna canned in olive oil or spring water, salmon instead of tuna, your favorite vinaigrette will be perfect, canned beets are fine, etc. I don’t like hard boiled eggs and usually leave them out. So far I haven’t had any trouble with the salad police, so take a stand, make it your own.
Art disclaimer – The fish in the painting is not an anchovy, but, it isn’t a tuna either – sorry.
To receive an email notification of my next post, click here and subscribe to the newsletter from Carol’s Kitchen.
Salade Nicoise List
- new potatoes
- carrots
- green beans
- beets
- parsley
- dill
- scallions
- fresh tuna
- Dijon mustard
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar
- lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
You never know what you might learn on a food blog!
l,c
I had no idea, there I was thinking it was as simple as your love for vinegar that made you like this salad so much…me it's the combination of leafy greens, coupled with the nice filling nature of potato and tuna…I love it too..
Congratulations on your anniversary! I just recently was introduced to Salade Nicoise. I wished I tried it a long time ago. I have not planned our menu for this week and will perhaps make that…