Light Niçoise Salad Recipes

CLASSIC NICOISE SALAD

Steps:

• Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan; cover with cold water and season with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until fork-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and transfer to a medium bowl; drizzle with the wine and let cool. Reserve the saucepan.
• Meanwhile, bring a separate saucepan of salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with salted ice water. Add the haricots verts to the boiling water; cook until crisp-tender and bright green, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge into the ice water to cool; drain and pat dry.
• Place the eggs in the reserved saucepan and cover with cold water by about 1 inch. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then cover, remove from the heat and let stand, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, then run under cold water to cool. Peel under cold running water.
• Make the dressing: Whisk the vinegar, shallot, mustard, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream until emulsified.
• Toss the tomatoes ian a small bowl with salt and pepper to taste. Add about 1/4 cup dressing to the potatoes and toss. Quarter the hard-cooked eggs.
• Divide the lettuce among 4 plates. Arrange the potatoes, haricots verts, radishes, hard-cooked eggs and tuna on top. Pour any juices from the tomatoes into the dressing, then add the tomatoes to the plates. Drizzle with the dressing and top with the olives.

LIGHT NICOISE SALAD

Steps:

• Put the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with water by about 2 inches. Add a pinch of salt, cover and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium high and simmer until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the snap peas and continue simmering, covered, until the peas are crisp-tender, about 3 more minutes. Drain the potatoes and peas and rinse under cold water; transfer to a large bowl.
• Make the dressing: Puree the tomatoes, olive oil, mayonnaise, vinegar and 1 tablespoon water in a blender.
• Divide the lettuce among 4 bowls and drizzle with some of the dressing. Add the tuna, bell pepper, olives and basil to the potatoes and peas; add the remaining dressing and toss gently to coat. Season with salt and pepper, then pile on top of the lettuce.
• Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

SALADE NICOISE

Steps:

• Heat a well-seasoned grill pan over high heat.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, shallot, anchovy paste, and capers. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Set aside. Place eggs in a medium saucepan and cover with several inches of cold water. Place the pan, uncovered, over high heat, stirring occasionally, until just before the water comes to a boil. Cover, turn off the heat, and cook for 12 minutes. Immediately transfer the eggs with a slotted spoon to ice bath. Let cool completely, about 5 minutes. Pat dry, one egg at a time; peel and halve. Set aside.
• Prepare an ice bath. Fill a medium saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil. Cook haricots verts until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Immediately transfer beans, with slotted spoon, to ice bath. Drain well and pat dry. Drizzle with rice wine vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Prepare an ice bath. Place potatoes in medium-sized pot. Cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cook until fork-tender, about 8 minutes. Immediately transfer potatoes with slotted spoon to ice bath. Drain well and pat dry. Cut in half lengthwise. Drizzle with vermouth. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Toss lettuces with some of the anchovy-caper dressing and place on large serving platter. Toss potatoes, haricots verts, and cherry tomatoes separately with dressing and arrange over lettuce.
• Arrange tuna over salad and drizzle with dressing. Garnish salad with eggs and Nicoise olives.

NIçOISE SALAD WITH BASIL AND ANCHOVY-LEMON VINAIGRETTE

Steps:

• Make the vinaigrette: Using the flat side of a knife, smash garlic clove, anchovy fillets and salt into a paste. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in lemon juice, zest and mustard. Using a whisk, slowly pour in olive oil while stirring constantly. Adjust seasoning as needed.
• Place potatoes in a medium pot and cover them with 2 or 3 inches of cold water. Salt the water and bring to a boil. When water comes to a boil, continue cooking potatoes until fork tender, 10 to 15 minutes more. Add haricots verts during the last 1 minute of cooking (if using regular green beans, add them during the last 2 to 3 minutes of cooking depending on how thin they are). Drain vegetables and let sit until cool enough to handle but still quite warm. Halve potatoes, transfer to a small bowl along with the haricots verts and dress everything to coat with some (but not all) of the vinaigrette. When completely cool, toss in chopped basil.
• On a large platter or four individual plates, arrange potatoes and haricots verts, radishes or cucumbers, tomatoes and tuna, and hard-boiled eggs, if using. Scatter olives over the top and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette. Serve garnished with freshly ground black pepper, flaky sea salt and torn basil leaves.