Provençal French · Nice · lunch

Salade Niçoise

salade niçoise

This is the real thing from Nice — no lettuce, no cooked vegetables, no compromises. Tuna, hard-boiled eggs, raw vegetables, anchovies, and olives arranged on a platter and dressed simply with olive oil. It's a full lunch on its own, best eaten at room temperature on a warm afternoon.

• large eggs

  4 eggs

  4 eggs

• small waxy potatoes (Yukon Gold or fingerling)

  3/4 lb

  340g

• ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges

  4 medium (about 1.5 lb)

  4 medium (about 680g)

• small Persian or English cucumbers, sliced

  2 cucumbers (about 10 oz)

  2 cucumbers (about 280g)

• small radishes, thinly sliced

  1 bunch (about 6 oz)

  1 bunch (about 170g)

• small green onions (scallions), trimmed

  4 stalks

  4 stalks

• oil-packed tuna, drained

  two 5-oz cans

  two 142g cans

• oil-packed anchovy fillets

  8 fillets (about 1 oz)

  8 fillets (about 28g)

• Castelvetrano or Cerignola olives

  3/4 cup

  120g

  Substitution · hard-to-find

  Original: Niçoise olives. Niçoise olives are small, black, and brine-cured — use Castelvetrano (green, buttery) or Kalamata as the most widely available alternatives. Any small brine-cured olive works.

• capers, drained

  2 tbsp

  18g

• fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

  1/4 cup loosely packed

  10g

• extra-virgin olive oil

  1/4 cup

  60ml

• red wine vinegar

  1 tbsp

  15ml

• fresh lemon juice

  1 tbsp

  15ml

• garlic clove, minced to a paste

  1 clove

  1 clove

• Dijon mustard

  1/2 tsp

  2g

• fleur de sel or good sea salt

  1/2 tsp, plus more to taste

  2g, plus more to taste

• freshly ground black pepper

  1/4 tsp

  0.5g

1. 01

   20 min

   Boil the eggs: Place eggs in a small saucepan, cover with cold water by an inch, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, cover, remove from heat, and let sit 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water. Once cool (about 5 minutes), peel and halve lengthwise. You want fully set yolks — no jammy centers here.

2. 02

   20 min

   Cook the potatoes: While the eggs are cooking, put the whole potatoes in a separate saucepan, cover with cold salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook until just tender when pierced with a knife, about 12–15 minutes depending on size. Drain and let cool until you can handle them, then slice into rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Season lightly with salt while still warm.

3. 03

   3 min

   Make the dressing: In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic paste, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper until emulsified. Taste — it should be bright and a little sharp. Adjust with more lemon or vinegar if needed.

4. 04

   5 min

   Prepare the raw vegetables: Slice the tomatoes into wedges and season them with a pinch of salt. Slice the cucumbers and radishes. Trim the green onions. Let the tomatoes sit for a minute — the salt draws out their juice and that's a good thing.

5. 05

   5 min

   Arrange the salad: Use a large, wide platter rather than a salad bowl — this is a composed salad, not a tossed one. Arrange the tomato wedges, cucumber slices, radishes, and green onions across the platter. Tuck the potato slices in among the vegetables. Break the tuna into large chunks and place in the center. Arrange the egg halves around the platter. Lay the anchovy fillets over the top, scatter the olives and capers, and finish with the chopped parsley.

6. 06

   2 min

   Dress and serve: Drizzle the dressing evenly over everything. Finish with a pinch of fleur de sel over the eggs and tomatoes. Bring the platter to the table and let people serve themselves. This is best eaten at room temperature — don't refrigerate it after dressing.

• · Unknown unit "each"; assumed 50g per quantity
• · Unknown unit "each"; assumed 50g per quantity
• · Unknown unit "each"; assumed 50g per quantity
• · Could not parse amount_metric: "two 142g cans"
• · oil-packed tuna: no grams conversion
• · Unknown unit "each"; assumed 50g per quantity

Reheating · Fish dries quickly when reheated. Use low heat with moisture, or serve cold over salad.

Source: foodkeeper