This beautiful salad originated in the French city of Nice and is traditionally made with hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, Niçoise olives, and tuna or anchovies. You can be as creative with the ingredients as you like! I added sliced cucumbers and grilled artichokes. It takes a little time in the preparation of each item, but you can cook the green beans, potatoes and eggs ahead of time. It’s a great dish for a potluck dinner or feeding a crowd. I recommend using a good quality canned tuna packed in olive oil as it’ll make a real difference. The champagne vinaigrette is the secret to pulling this dish together!
Salad Nicoise
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 pound French green beans (haricot vert) stems removed and blanched
- 1 pound small red bliss potatoes boiled until tender and cut in half
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes halved
- 6 eggs, hard boiled peeled and sliced
- 1/4 cup pitted black olives
- 2-3 cans tuna packed in olive oil or water packed if that's what you prefer
- 1 small head of bib or butter lettuce
- 4 small cucumbers sliced
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon or course-grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- juice of a lemon
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Arrange the green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, olives, tuna, lettuce, cucumbers and capers on a large flat platter
- For the vinaigrette, combine the vinegar, mustard, honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil to make an emulsion. Drizzle some over the tuna and vegetables and serve the rest in a pitcher on the side.