Tuna Nicoise Salad
Tuna Nicoise Salad
It sounds so fancy . . . the word Nicoise refers to inhabitants of Nice, France. O00 lah lah! Tuna Nicoise Salad is really just the French version of our American Cobb Salad with green beans, eggs, red potatoes, tomatoes and olives. For the tuna, I’m using canned albacore to make it easy and not so labor intensive, but feel free to grill up fresh tuna if you’ve got it. I use albacore because I like the taste better and have learned that it contains less mercury per ounce than other tunas.
The vinaigrette is a wonderful olive oil based dressing with Herbes De Provence, a seasoning blend you’ll find in the spice aisle of the grocery store (goes with the French theme). You can make your own, but the list of herbs in this blend is so lengthy, I’d suggest you just find this, and then buy another one to make sure you have it on hand. A true Nicoise vinaigrette uses anchovies, which would add awesome flavor, but I’ve left them out of this one.
I’m going to take this to a fun summer potluck barbecue tomorrow. Hope everyone likes it! Bon Appetit!
- Tuna Nicoise Salad
- 6 small new red potatoes (each about 2 inches in diameter, about 3/4 pounds total), each potato scrubbed and quartered
- 4 ounces green beans, stem ends trimmed, cut in half
- 1 medium head Boston lettuce or butter lettuce, leaves washed, dried, and torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1 (12-ounce) can water-packed albacore tuna, drained
- 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled, sliced or halved
- 2 small ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into eighths
- 1/4 small red onion, sliced very thin
- 1/4 cup sliced niçoise or black olives
- Juice of one lemon
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp agave nectar
- 1 tsp Herbes de Provence
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add red potatoes and cook until tender, about 5-8 minutes. Drain and toss with a little olive oil. Let cool.
- Steam or microwave green beans until tender, but not over cooked, about 3-5 minutes. Submerge in ice water for 30 seconds to stop the cooking. Drain and toss with a little olive oil.
- Arrange lettuce leaves on serving platter. Top with tuna, eggs, tomatoes, red onion, olives, cooked new potatoes and steamed green beans.
- For the Vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients except olive oil in container of food processor fitted with metal blade. Cover and process until well blended. With motor running, slowly pour olive oil through the chute to incorporate into dressing.
- Sprinkle vinaigrette over the salad or serve in a separate container.