The light alternative: nicoise salad
Margaret Fulton nominates essential recipes for a quick feed, family feast, popular choice, light alternative and celebration.
I first came across this salad in 1955 when I was invited to lunch by my boss's French wife. We had lunch in her pretty sunroom and the first course was a simple and delicious nicoise salad. Later I spent a few weeks in Provence and ate nicoise salad almost daily. I never tired of it; each day it was slightly different, depending on what the cook had on hand. Like all good salads, it is hard to ruin and usually delicious whatever the combination of ingredients, as long as they are fresh.
I had never seen just a salad for lunch and it was so fresh and so light, It actually changed the way Australians saw salads.
From its humble beginnings in the family kitchens of Nice, nicoise salad is now found on restaurant menus in every village in Provence and many around the world.
500g tuna steaks or 2 x 200g cans tuna in oil
Light olive oil
Lemony herbs such as lemon thyme, lemon balm and citrus leaves
500g new potatoes, scrubbed
4 large eggs, at room temperature
500g green beans, topped and tailed
1 cos lettuce or bunch of English spinach, washed and dried
3 tomatoes, each cut into eighths
½ cup black olives (preferably kalamata)
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish
Vinaigrette dressing
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp chopped herbs such as flat-leaf parsley, chives or oregano
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp tarragon vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
Place the tuna steaks (if using) in a snugly fitting ovenproof pan. Cover with light olive oil and add a few lemony herbs. Cover with foil and bake in a 150C oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the oil.
Put the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with boiling water. Add a little salt and bring to the boil. Cook, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender, then drain. Lower the eggs carefully into warm water and bring the water slowly to the boil, stirring all the time so as to centre the yolks. Once the water is simmering, cook for five minutes. Drain, lightly crack the shells and leave to cool completely in cold water. Drop the prepared beans into a little boiling salted water and cook until tender, yet crisp. Drain immediately, refresh under cold water, drain again. Remove the tuna from the oil. Cut into large chunks. Arrange the lettuce on the base of a platter. Slice the potatoes thickly and arrange on top of the leaves. Arrange the beans, tomatoes, olives and quartered shelled eggs, and top with slices of tuna. Garnish with parsley.
For the dressing, mix together the mustard, salt, pepper, garlic, herbs, vinegars and lemon juice. Beat in the olive oil slowly to ensure the dressing remains thick and amalgamated. Beat again before using. Drizzle over the salad.
Serves 6
Source: Good Living
