Salad Niçoise | Classical French Flavours |

Salad Niçoise is a really scrumptious fresh classic. Who says salad is boring? This is a great dish for a sunny afternoon get together that is easy to make and will thrill family and friends alike. You can make Salad Niçoise from tinned Tuna or for a special treat and a bit of luxury use fresh. Both work amazingly. To be honest, this is one of the best combinations of salad ingredients ever invented.

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Salad Niçoise

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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By Marc Spendlove-Kruger – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 Minutes – Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Salad Niçoise recipe is relatively classical, so the focus should be on sourcing quality ingredients and presenting it beautifully on a summer's day. Use the best tomatoes in season, or even some sun-dried tomatoes as an alternative.

Ingredients

• 450g/1lb fresh tuna or 4 x 175g/6oz tuna steaks, 2.5cm/1in thick (or two cans of tuna if you are going that route)
• 8 new potatoes, cooked and quartered lengthways
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 115g/4oz extra fine French beans, topped, cooked and drained
• 4 little gem lettuce hearts, quartered lengthways
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• 4 eggs, cooked for 6 minutes in boiling water from room temperature, halved
• 16 pitted black olives in brine
• 8 basil leaves, ripped
• For the dressing or marinade
• 105ml/7tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp aged red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp freshly snipped chives
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions

1

To make the dressing or marinade whisk together the red wine vinegar, olive oil, parsley, chives, garlic, salt and pepper.

2

Place the tuna in a shallow dish and pour over half of the dressing.

3

Cover and chill for 1-2 hours to allow the fish to marinate. Toss in the marinade from time to time.

4

Heat a ridged griddle pan on the hob or a hot barbecue for 5 minutes.

5

Remove the tuna from the marinade.

6

Cook the tuna steaks for 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on how rare you like your fish.

7

Lay the lettuce leaves onto a large plate and add the lettuce, onion, tomatoes, potato, tuna, and beans.

8

Drizzle over the remaining dressing then finish by adding the eggs, olives and ripped basil leaves.

Notes

You need to serve the salad fairly promptly, and needless to say it needs lots of warm, crusty baguette with butter to go with it.

There are many variations on this recipe. You can vary with what is in the store cupboard. You can replace the potatoes with croutons and use any herbs you have available. Nothing is set in stone. Some people add capers and some prefer green olives to black. For a more fulsome flavour you can replace the lettuce with rocket. This adds a dimension to the flavour. To reduce the cooking time I tend to use the microwave for the potatoes and beans – much quicker and still tastes great!

Wine Matching

We served an Arabella Chenin Blanc with this dish and it was a great match with the Salad Niçoise. Naked Wines have given Cork, Fork, and Table a great deal for subscribers. A wapping £75 off your first order.  Wine available to suit every pocket. Discover how easy it is to get great wines of the world delivered to your door. We have been using them for about two years and have never had a bad bottle. Happy Glugging!

If you like Tuna – try these amazing Tuna Recipes:

Seared Tuna | Tantalising Malaysian Flavour

Tuna Ceviche | Full of Freshness and Flavour |

Tuna and Lentil Salad | Gluten Free Flavour Burst |