Homemade Salade Niçoise

So I thought that today I would show you how to make a Salade Nicoise. But what exactly is a salade Nicoise you ask?

Let's check:

Sometimes referred to as Salade Niçoise or insalata nizzarda, is a mixed salad consisting of various vegetables topped with tuna and anchovy. It is a specialty of the Côte d'Azur named for the city of Nice.

The salad or "salade" is displayed on a flat plate or platter and arranged on a bed of lettuce. Ripe tomato wedges, halved boiled new potatoes, steamed green beans, wedges of hard-cooked eggs, are topped with canned tuna (tinned in oil), and Niçoise olives. Finally the salad is garnished with tinned anchovies. The salad is served with a vinaigrette.

The original version of the salad always included raw red peppers, shallots, and artichoke hearts, never potatoes. The French, especially in the Nice area, will clearly state no cooked vegetables are to be used. I am going to teach you my version on this recipe.

If you're like me and you want a lighter version of this salad without using anchovies, just follow my recipe.

OK! so now we know where it comes from. Let's get ready to make this delicious salad.

Ingredients:

2 Ripe tomatoes

2 Hard boiled eggs

1 Red onion

25g. Black olives (no seeds)

25g. Green olives (no seeds)

1/2 Red pepper

1/2 Green pepper

1 Can of artichoke hearts (in oil)

1 Fresh Goat cheese tomme

2 Cans of tuna (in salt water)

1 Fresh salad of your choice

1 Lemon's Juice

Salt

Black Pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Fresh basil leaves

        

  (in this recipe I used a mix of Romaine  lettuce (left)  and Rocket (right) or "Eruca sativa" )

Let's get mixing and assembling;

The first step is to wash, tear and set your romaine lettuce and rocket in a shallow and wide salad bowl.

Then julienne your green and red peppers and place them on top of your lettuce bed in a circle formation around the salad bowl.

Continue the julienning process with the red onion and the tomatoes. Place the freshly cut ingredients on top of the green and red peppers. Cut your artichoke hearts in half and your hard boiled eggs in 4 wedges each, place them in a circle at the center of your lettuce bed on top of the other ingredients you've already layed down. Leave some space in the middle to add the tuna in the center. Cut your goat cheese in cubes or bite-sized pieces and add them around the eggs.

Now let's prepare the tuna;

chop your basil leaves finely and set them aside. Press your lemon in order to get the most juice out of it.

Take your 2 cans of tuna and spoon them in a small bown, mix in 1 tbs. of extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper and half of the lemon juice you've squeezed. Add a pinch of the basil you've chopped and mix well with a fork. Spoon the mixture in the center of your salad bed.

We're almost done!

Now add the left over lemon juice all over your pretty salad, add 2 tbs. of evoo (extra virgin olive oil),

salt, pepper. Decorate the salad with a basil head and set on the table.

Mix the salad just before serving after your guests have seen the beautiful work you've done decorating with the ingredients and voilà!

I hope you try this recipe and have as much fun as me eating it!

Bon Appétit!