Nicoise Salad

Through different dishes we can travel to other parts of the world. We recently "traveled" to Israel for Shaksuka http://lonelyguyscookbook.com/shakshuka/ and today we take a trip to a French bistro for a Nicoise salad.

A classic Nicoise salad uses some kind of fish, flaked or sliced. It has olives. It has a lemony, mustard vinaigrette. From this starting point we can pretty much do what we want as far as salad ingredients.



Boston lettuce
12 ounces white albacore tuna, flaked
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced in half
4 small potatoes, peeled and sliced in half
1 tomato, chopped
1 big handful of green beans
Red onion, two thin slices
Nicoise or Kalamata olives optional, or as many as you like
1/4 teaspoon saffron
1 teaspoon turmeric
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
Juice of one lemon
1 clove garlic 
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Worcestershire sauce
Olive oil

Get the prep work out of the way first. You can do this a day ahead.

Peel 4 small potatoes and slice in half. Boil them in salted water with the saffron and the turmeric. Cook for 20 minutes or until pierced easily with the tip of a knife. The potatoes will get a nice yellow color.

Make 4 hard boiled eggs as directed here: http://lonelyguyscookbook.com/the-perfect-hard-boiled-egg/.

Place the green beans in plain boiling water for two minutes then plunge into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.

Chop up  some tomato. Slice some red onion - about two thin slices sliced again into strips.

The Dressing

Mince the garlic as fine as you can. Ideally, make a paste by spreading it with the edge your knife and chopping. Don't worry. I can't do it either. If you have it, a garlic press will work too.

Mince half a slice of the red onion.

In a Pyrex  cup or bowl, add the garlic and onion. Add the juice of one lemon. Add a tablespoon of mustard. Add a few dashes of Worcestershire. Season with salt and pepper and whisk.

While whisking, drizzle in olive oil, about 1/4 cup. Taste. If too strong, use a little more oil. I think water would work as well. I don't like an oily dressing.

Assemble the Salad

Line a plate with lettuce leaves. Decorate around the edge with 4 potato halves and 4 egg halves.

Add chopped tomato, as much or as little as desired. Add half the green beans. Add half of the flaked tuna to the middle of the plate.

Sprinkle some red onion strips over the salad. Add the olives.

Sprinkle salt and freshly ground black pepper over the salad.

Spoon the lemon-mustard dressing over everything.

This recipe will make two servings. This recipe passes my "keep shoveling the food into my face" test. The dressing probably would work well on other vegetables as well as fish. It's so good I think it would make an old leather shoe tasty.