We’re big fans of the TV show Frasier. Both Frasier and Niles are lovable snobs who also happen to be gourmet chefs. Occasionally the scripts will reference an obscure dish we’ve never heard of. Of course, that’s incentive to look up a recipe and try it out.
In one episode, “Burying a Grudge,” we learn that a juvenile Miles, while attending a weenie roast, asked for a “Salade Niçoise” instead of a hot dog. What, I wondered, is a a salade Niçoise? Clearly, it must be a fancy French dish of some kind, the joke being that even at ten Miles had a sophisticated palette and equally unsophisticated social skills.
Jump to RecipeIt appears that this salad is more of a category than a specific dish. A quick web search revealed dozens of different recipes. Nearly all include tomatoes, and it’s usually dressed with some version of olive oil and vinegar, but beyond that, there’s not a lot of consistency. I’ve made it several ways since discovering it, depending on what’s available in my kitchen, but I always include hard-boiled eggs and sushi-grade tuna. This website has a good history of the dish, which was apparently popular at the middle of the last century. The recipe below is based in part on Tyler Florence’s on the Food Network.
The photograph above is of the version I made the other night, although it’s a bit different from the recipe below. I’d encourage you to try your own variations. Feel free to be creative. I’ve found versions on the web, for example, that use chicken instead off tuna, asparagus instead of green beans, eggs and no eggs, and so on. Julia Child called for canned tuna in her version, but on her show in 1978 she opened a can of sardines by mistake. You get the idea.
This is usually a “composed” salad, in which the ingredients are arranged separately on the plate, often on a bed of greens. In the above photo, you’ll see that the Tuna is on one side and the eggs are on another. Usually, I’d also arrange ingredients separately on a bed of spinach and endive before drizzling the whole thing with the dressing. This time I just tossed the various ingredients together and then placed them down the middle of the plate. Julia Child said this would “look like Hell,” but it looks okay to my untrained eye.
Properly speaking, you should use Niçoise olives for this dish, but if you don’t have them, any old olive will do. I used the ones we keep on hand for when we have martinis. In fact, I had a martini avant le diner and it complemented the dish nicely.
In the recipe we boil new potatoes and steam the beans, but I’ve also roasted them in the oven. Just be aware that you want the beans al dente–still slightly crunchy–so you’ll start cooking the potatoes first and then add the beans to the oven when the potatoes have about ten minutes to go. I usually use canned anchovies in addition to the tuna, but didn’t have any for the salad in the photo. I’ve used asparagus instead of green beans, but truthfully didn’t like it as well. You can top the salad with chives, parsley, or nothing as you wish.
If you roast the potatoes as I did for dish pictured above, check out an easy recipe here.
Salade Niçoise
Equipment
- Hand-held emulsifier or emulsifying blender
- Pot with steamer basket
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 TSP Mustard Dijon or stone-ground
- 3 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar
- 1/2 Juice of small lemon Roughly 2 TBSP
- 2 TBSP fresh chopped parsley
- 1/2 C Olive oil
- salt dash to taste
- Pepper dash to taste
Salad
- 2 6 oz Tuna steaks sushi-grade
- 3/4 lb small red potatoes quartered or in 1/2 inch dice
- 1/2 lb green beans stems trimmed
- 1/2 C grape tomatoes, halved or two Roma tomatoes, quartered
- 1/2 C Niçoise olives or black olives, or martini olives
- 8 anchovy fillets Or sardines. Either are optional.
- 1/4 C capers
- 2 Green onions Or parsley, optional
- 4 eggs
- 2 TBSP olive oil divided
- 1 C mixed greens endive and spinach, or your favorite greens
Instructions
Sauce
- Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl.
- Use a hand-held emulsifier to mix the ingredients. If you don't have an emulsifier, put the ingredients in a small jar, screw on the lid, and shake vigorously. This won't work as well, and you'll probably have to re-shake it before applying it to the salad, but it can work in a pinch.
Salad
- Quarter the potatoes or cut into 1/2 inch dice. No need to peal the potatoes first, but if you like the extra work, go ahead.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add a TSP of salt and the potatoes. Simmer for about 12-15 minutes.
- While the potatoes simmer, trim the ends from the green beans.
- After the potatoes have simmered for 12-15 m inutes, add the eggs to the pot, using a large spoon so they don't crack. Put a steamer basket on top of the potatoes and eggs, add the green beans, cover, and simmer for 5-7 more minutes. Using one pot cuts down on the cleanup, although I suppose you could use two or even three if you like cleaning pots.
- While the potatoes, eggs, and green beans cook, place a skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 TBSP of the olive oil to the pan. Brush the tuna steaks with the remaining olive oil, and brush with a bit of the dressing. Salt and pepper to taste and add to hot pan. Cook each side for two minutes. The tuna will be bright red in the middle with a seared exterior.
- When the potatoes, eggs, and green beans are done cooking, remove the steamer basket and set it and the beans aside. Remove the eggs from the pan, and drain the potatoes in a colander. Fill the pan with cold water and put the eggs back in–this will make it easier to peal them.
- When the tuna is done, remove from pan and cut into slices against the grain of the meat.
- Peal and slice the eggs. Alternatively, just cut the eggs in half, but slicing them looks better and is easier to eat.
- Dice the green onions, if using.
- Arrange the salad on the plate on a bed of greens. Drizzle with the dressing. Garnish with the green onions.This is a composed salad, so traditionally, you would arrange each ingredient separately, but at a minimum the tuna, eggs, and anchovies (if used) should be kept separate. You could combine the green beans, tomatoes, capers, olives, and potatoes in a bowl and mix together with the dressing, creating a kind of "potato salad" for a slightly different presentation as shown in the photo above.
Notes
