Authentic Niçoise Salad
This simple homemade Niçoise Salad is a lively mix of fresh tomatoes, crisp bell peppers, radishes and cool cucumber, spruced up with hard-boiled eggs, tuna, salty anchovies and a simple herby dressing. True to tradition, you’ll find no green beans nor potatoes in this authentic recipe! It’s a refreshingly crisp and crunchy salad that’s ideal for your next BBQ or to pop into your lunchbox. The misconceptions about Niçoise Salad Nicoise Salad – in French, Salade Niçoise – is a classic salad hailing from the city of Nice in Provence,…
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- EASY
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 2 large eggs
- 1 small butterhead lettuce (Bibb, Boston)
- 200g fava beans, cooked and cooled (about 500 g shelled beans) 2 medium tomatoes or 1 large heirloom
- 1 can tuna in oil (80g total, about 50g after oil drained) ½ green bell pepper
- ½ cucumber
- 6 pink radishes bulbs
- ½ large summer onion (white part only)
- 50g Nicoises olives (or black olives), pitted or unpitted
- 8-10 anchovy fillets, drained
- 4 fresh basil leaves, rougly chopped
- 2 tbsp (30ml) extra virgin oive oil
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- Salt, pepper to taste
Instructions
- 1
Step 1 - Make the hard-boiled eggs. In a small pot, cover the eggs with cold water by an inch. Heat the pot on high heat to bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pot with a lid (keep it on the hot burner) and let sit for exactly 10 minutes. Drain the water, run cold water over the eggs to stop the cooking process and peel once cooled enough to touch.
- 2
Step 2 – Prepare the lettuce. Tear the lettuce into large pieces. Wash under cold water and set aside on a cloth or paper towel to dry.
- 3
Step 3 - Prepare the vegetables. Cut the tomatoes into bite-sized cubes, transfer into a bowl and toss with ½ tsp of salt so they render some of their juices. Set aside. Seed and cut the green bell pepper into thin strips. Peel and cut the ½ cucumber in half (lenghtwise), seed the inside by gliding the tip of a spoon across the length of the flesh, and cut into ¼-inch thick half-rounds. Slice the radishes into thin slices. Cut the summer onion into thin slices (discard ends). Peel and cut the hard-boiled eggs in quarters.
- 4
Step 4 - Assemble the salad. Rub the cut garlic clove onto the bottom of two serving plates. Place lettuce pieces evenly onto the plates. In a large bowl, stir together the fava beans, green bell peppers, cucumber, radishes, green onions, olives, and diced tomatoes - keep the juices aside. Scatter evenly onto the two plates. Top with equal parts of anchovies, tuna chunks and finally the halved eggs.
- 5
Step 6 – Make the dressing. Stir 2 tablespoons (30ml) of extra-vrigin olive oil with the remaining juice of the tomatoes. Add chopped basil leaves, salt and pepper to taste and drizzle the dressing onto each plate, just before serving.