Classic French Salade Niçoise

When the weather gets warm, an entree salad like Dorie Greenspan’s Classic French Salade Niçoise is both easy and delicious! Just make sure to have some canned tuna, anchovies, capers and olives on hand and you can whip up this fabulous French-inspired salad.

Classic French Salade Niçoise

When we toured France last summer, I ate a Salade Niçoise at every port…and they were all different save for the inclusion of tuna, haricot verts, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, and potatoes.

I fell for each and every version. I have even made a modern version, as Dorie called it, a Salade Nicoise with ahi tuna. Scrumptious as well. There are numerous ways to tweak this classic French salad, from the dressing to what ingredients you choose to feature.

Dorie’s Salade Niçoise Interpretation

Life has been chaotic, and I’m back in Denver again to visit my parents. I’m hoping by the time this post goes live, that my dad will be out of the hospital. So having a quick old favorite recipe to prepare this week was truly a blessing.

And Dorie did this one right. Besides the aforementioned ingredients, her salad contained tomatoes, capers, and anchovies.  As a child who used to eat chicken bouillon cubes, all these salty ingredients hit home. Pure comfort. A drizzle of a perfectly proportioned Dijon vinaigrette finished this vibrant masterpiece off.

Easily Adaptable French Salad

For those of you keeping track, I think Bill would eat this classic French salad Niçoise. There would be a little pile of anchovies, capers, and olives (he will eat the green, pimento-stuffed variety) on his plate, but no worries. I’d just add to my sodium load for the day and scoop them onto my plate. But to tell the truth, I didn’t even offer him any…I wanted this one all for myself!

Feel free to leave out any ingredient you don’t like and also buy the kind of tuna you prefer. I’m loving the jarred tuna in olive oil. Expensive, but terrific quality.

The vinaigrette recipe is a simple combination of red or white wine vinegar ( I used champagne vinegar), Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and olive oil. You might also love this Hearts of Palm Salad, Avocado, Butter Lettuce Salad.

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The Recipe:

Classic French Salade Niçoise

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Yield 4 servings

Dorie Greenspan's delicious version of this classic French salad!

Ingredients

Salad

• 12 small potatoes, scrubbed
• a couple handsful green beans
• 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 8 ounces jarred tuna (4 - 6 oz. each), packed in olive oil (try Tonnino for a quality experience)
• salad greens
• cherry tomatoes or regular tomatoes cut into chunks
• small olives (Niçoise, but any will do)
• capers (drained and patted dry)
• anchovies (rinsed and patted dry)

Dijon Vinaigrette

• 2 Tbsp. wine vinegar (red or white or sherry)
• 1 shallot, finely minced
• ¼ tsp. Dijon mustard
• a couple pinches sea salt
• a couple grinds of fresh black pepper
• 4 Tbsp. olive oil

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water. Cook until they are tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife, 10 - 20 minutes. Scoop them out of the pot and put them in a bowl to cool.
2. Blanch the green beans in the potato water until they are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain the beans and put them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain, then pat dry.
3. Make the vinaigrette: Add vinegar, shallot, mustard, salt, and pepper to a small glass measuring cup or jar and let sit 10 - 15 minutes to mellow the shallot. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking constantly.
4. Assemble the salad, on one large platter, or individual plates: salad greens, halved potatoes, green beans, halved eggs, tuna, tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies and drizzle with the shallot vinaigrette.

Notes

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 718Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 214mgSodium: 315mgCarbohydrates: 93gFiber: 11gSugar: 8gProtein: 35g

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