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Salade Niçoise
Serves 4 Prep 30 min Cook 15 min Total 45 min Type Side Origin French

Salade Niçoise

A Provençal market-day plate: tomatoes, eggs, beans, olives, anchovies and tuna, dressed with good olive oil and vinegar.

Serves 4 Prep 30 minutes Cook 15 minutes Units Rate

Overview

Eggs hard-boil; cool; peel; quarter. New potatoes simmer in salted water until tender; drain; halve while warm; toss with a spoon of vinegar. Green beans blanch briefly; cool. Tomatoes wedge (the best you can find). The dressing: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, crushed garlic, salt and pepper whisks together. Composition on a wide platter: a base of lettuce leaves (optional, traditional purists skip), then arranged piles of each cooked / prepared ingredient, wedges of tomato, halved eggs, halved potatoes, green beans, drained tuna chunks, niçoise olives, anchovy fillets. Drizzled with the dressing. Scattered with basil. Eaten with crusty bread.

Ingredients

Cooked / boiled

  • 4 eggs (large)
  • 400 g small new potatoes (charlotte or other waxy)
  • 200 g fresh green beans (trimmed)
  • 2 teaspoons salt (for blanching)

Tomatoes

  • 4 ripe medium tomatoes (best you can find - mixed colours and sizes are good)

Tuna and anchovies

  • 1 (200 g) tin of best-quality tuna in olive oil (Spanish ventresca or Italian if available; not water-packed)
  • 6 anchovy fillets in olive oil (drained)

Olives and other

  • 80 g Niçoise olives (the small, dark, Provençal variety - or substitute Kalamata)
  • 1 red onion (small, sliced very thin, optional, NOT traditional Niçoise)
  • 1 green pepper (small, sliced thin, optional, traditional in some Provençal versions)

Dressing

  • 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 garlic clove (crushed to a paste with a pinch of salt)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

To finish

  • 1 small bunch fresh basil (leaves torn)
  • A small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
  • Crusty bread to serve
  • Optional: a butterhead lettuce (or romaine, leaves separated) as a base

Method

Stage 1 - Eggs

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
  2. Gently lower the eggs in; cook 9 minutes (for fully set yolks) or 8 minutes (for a slightly creamy centre).
  3. Drain; refresh in cold water; peel.

Stage 2 - Potatoes

  1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
  2. Add the new potatoes (whole, skins on if small; halved if larger).
  3. Boil 12-15 minutes until a knife slides through easily.
  4. Drain; halve while warm; toss with 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar (the warm potatoes absorb the dressing better).

Stage 3 - Green beans

  1. Bring a separate pot of well-salted water to a boil.
  2. Blanch the trimmed green beans 3-4 minutes until just tender, bright green.
  3. Drain; refresh in cold water; drain again; pat dry.

Stage 4 - Tomatoes

  1. Cut each tomato into 6-8 wedges.
  2. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt; let stand 5 minutes (releases juice and intensifies flavour).

Stage 5 - Dressing

  1. In a small bowl, whisk olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic-salt paste, salt and pepper to a smooth emulsion.
  2. Taste; adjust.

Stage 6 - Compose

  1. With lettuce: line a wide flat platter with butterhead or romaine leaves.
  2. Without (purist style): use the bare platter.
  3. Arrange the components in distinct piles or zones, not mixed:
    • Tomato wedges in one section
    • Quartered eggs in another
    • Halved potatoes in another
    • Green beans piled together
    • Tuna chunks broken into rough pieces in the centre
    • Anchovies laid across the tuna
    • Olives scattered
    • Sliced red onion / pepper if using
  4. Each ingredient should be visible and separately identifiable.

Stage 7 - Dress

  1. Drizzle the dressing over the entire platter - generously over the vegetables and tuna.
  2. Scatter torn basil and chopped parsley.
  3. Final crack of black pepper.

Stage 8 - Serve

  1. Bring the platter to the table.
  2. Provide a wide spoon for serving and offer crusty bread.
  3. Pour a chilled rosé (a Provençal one if possible) alongside.

Notes

  • The purist debate: Niçoise purists (Auguste Escoffier disagreed; Jacques Médecin, mayor of Nice, insisted) say no cooked vegetables - potatoes and green beans are out, and only raw vegetables go in. This recipe gives the international version with both, but it's worth knowing the purist version exists.
  • Tuna in olive oil, not water: The quality of the tuna matters more than almost anything else. Spanish ventresca (tuna belly) is the best; good Italian or Portuguese tinned tuna in olive oil is the next step down. Water-packed tuna gives a sad salad.
  • Compose, don't toss: Niçoise is a composed salad. The visual variety on the plate is part of the appeal. Tossing everything together is wrong.

Storage

  • Best within 1 hour of assembly.
  • Components keep separately 24 hours: cooked potatoes, cooked beans, hard-boiled eggs (peeled, in water), dressing. Assemble fresh.
  • Don't store the assembled salad.

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