My love affair with salad niçoise started during a family trip to Paris before my senior year of college. We were exploring the Rodin Museum (if you are going to Paris anytime soon, I highly recommend a visit) and our bellies started rumbling. With the hunger pains starting, we decided to try out the café that was located in the courtyard of the museum. My sister and I decided to play it safe with chicken Caesar salads (big mistake), while my mom chose a beautifully arranged salad niçoise as her lunch. From the oil-packed tuna to the fresh green beans to the perfect hard-boiled egg, it was culinary perfection.
Thus, my love of salad niçoise was born.
I have made a more traditional salad niçoise on the blog before, but I like to take an idea that I enjoy and change it up with whatever I have in the fridge. My fridge had some leftover broiled salmon, leftover potatoes, and some balsamic vinaigrette, so it was salad niçoise with a “leftover” spin!
It starts with a bed of some baby arugula.
Traditional salad niçoise usually doesn’t have lettuce in it, but I really like having something that the rest of the salad ingredients can lay upon. Plus the peppery arugula adds a little zip to the finished salad.
Then comes the star of the show – the green beans!
I used some defrosted some frozen thin green beans (haricot vert) that I toasted for a few minutes in a skillet until they were slightly crisp. And then I piled them on one part of the plate.
And then tossed on some roasted potatoes (also leftover and also toasted in a skillet until warm). Potatoes and green beans – two ingredients that make salad niçoise what it is!
Finally, we get to the fish component of the salad. It is traditionally served with tuna but since I had some leftover salmon, I used that instead (versatility is a good thing!).
Yum! My three favorite things on one salad!
The final addition to salad niçoise is a perfect hard-boiled egg. I like to cut mine into quarters and sprinkle it with some salt and pepper. This is definitely one protein-packed lunch.
All the salad needs is a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette…
And then it’s time to dig in.
Pretty, protein-packed, and delicious – the perfect salad with wonderful memories of a fun vacation!
Enjoy, everyone.
Your salad niçoise obsessed friend,
C
This recipe was featured in Perfect Eats on i’mperfect magazine, check it out here: http://im-perfectmagazine.com/recipe-salad-nicoise/
- 2 cups baby arugula
- 1½ cups haricot vert (thin green beans), either raw or defrosted and heated in a skillet until just crisp
- ½-¾ cup diced leftover roasted potato, heated in a skillet until just crisp and warmed through
- 3oz leftover broiled salmon, flaked into large chunks
- 1 hard-boiled egg, quartered and seasoned with salt and pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette, homemade or store-bought
- Place arugula in the center of a dinner plate, making a bed for the remaining salad ingredients to rest on. Then, one by one, layer each ingredient onto the arugula in a stripe pattern (one stripe of green beans, one stripe of potatoes, etc.). Drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette over the salad. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
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