There are several variations to Niçoise salad, but according to Wikipedia two basic ingredients commonly used in the world are not present in Nice, France, where the salad is originally from; they are green beans and potatoes. However, we don’t seem to be able to think of this delicious salad without these two cooked vegetables, so here is the world’s version against the French.
By the way, we use-hard boiled eggs in this recipe because, at home, we cook large amounts of food to store in the fridge for days, but we also make the salad without eggs and add a soft-boiled or poached egg to our serving right before eating it. Haricots verts – French green beans – are fancier than common green beans, and cook in just one minute. New potatoes work best for salads, red or white. Artichoke hearts are optional – they enrich your salad with great flavor and texture.
Ingredients:
8-10 small potatoes (approximately 1/2 pound), scrubbed
10 radishes, wedged
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1 tablespoon for boiling potatoes, beans and eggs
lemon juice from a whole lemon (approximately 2 tablespoons)
zest from 1/2 lemon, grated
4 anchovy fillets
10 small tomatoes, halved; or 1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
4 large garlic cloves
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 6-ounce cans tuna, drained
4 eggs, washed
1 6.5 oz quartered and marinated artichoke hearts jar
finely chopped basil leaves to taste, for serving
ground black pepper, for serving
salt to taste, for serving
STEPS TO MAKE IT:
Place potatoes and eggs in a pot with cold water, covering them by at least one inch. Salt the water (with one tablespoon salt) and bring it to a boil. Remove eggs after boiling for 5 min and allow them to cool off, and continue cooking the potatoes for 7 more min, or until fork tender.
For the vinaigrette, you’ll need a cuisine art. Put garlic, anchovies, 1/2 teaspoon salt, mustard and lemon juice in the cuisine art, start it and add olive oil slowly to form an emulsion. (If you want to do this without a cuisine art: Mince garlic, chop anchovies, mash them with the side of a nice to turn them into a paste, put them in a bowl with lemon juice and mustard, and whisk, adding oil slowly to form and emulsion.)
Three min prior to removing potatoes, add green beans (or one minute if using haricots verts). Use a colander to drain water, separate potatoes as quickly as possible and place hot beans in a cold water bowl, so they’ll stop cooking.
Cut potatoes in quarters before they get cold, place pieces in a bowl with beans, add half of dressing and toss well. Peel and slice eggs, add them to the bowl with all remaining ingredients, including the rest of the vinaigrette.
YIELD: 8 servings
FOOD RECIPE by Lucas Eller
