Salad Nicoise – Would the Real One Stand Up?
Market black box: fresh albacore tuna that hubby caught.
What we did with it: made a Nicoise salad.
There are as many different Salad Nicoise recipes as there are cooks. Some recipes call for tuna and/or anchovies while others forgo the meat altogether: my 1977 edition of Paul Bocuse’s French Cooking ingredient list for Salad Nicoise calls for boiled potatoes, ripe tomatoes, string beans, lettuce hearts, thinly sliced onions, fresh chervil with oil and vinegar (no fish at all). And still, some recipes have the vegetables cooked and others keep it raw. The 1988 English version of Larousse Gastronomique states that “Neither potatoes nor cooked vegetables should be added to this salad.” Hmmm.
While the recipe ingredients and list of ingredients might be different, common elements to most Nicoise Salads include beans, tomatoes, onions, fresh herbs (tarragon, chervil, basil and parsley are common), and an oil-and-vinegar blend dressing. The tuna is usually canned, either packed in water or oil. Anchovies, if used, are sometimes rinsed and patted dry before placing on the plate.
My version uses fresh albacore tuna. I prepare this salad with fresh tuna from what we catch whenever we get lucky landing an albacore. Somehow, the kids don’t mind this kind of tuna salad. The tuna is first poached in a court bouillon and cooled. Experiment with your salad. The other ingredients can be changed as desired.
Albacore Tuna Salad Nicoise
Ingredients
Court Bouillon Poached Albacore Tuna
- 12 oz fresh albacore tuna
- 1 celery stalk chopped
- 1/2 small onion chopped
- 1/2 lemon squeezed into the water
- Several twists of freshly ground black pepper
Albacore Tuna Salad Nicoise
- 12 ounces fresh poached albacore tuna see recipe below
- 12 ounces small red potatoes steamed and cut in half
- 8 ounces fresh green beans snapped, trimmed and steamed
- 4 small vine ripened tomatoes
- Hearts of Romaine washed and leaves separated
- 4 hard boiled eggs quartered or chopped
- 12 each whole kalamata olives pitted
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 garlic clove pressed
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard Fresh tarragon leaves
Instructions
For the poached albacore
- Use a pan large enough to allow the poaching liquid to cover the top of the piece of fish. Add about a quart of water or more to the pan, and add the celery and onion. Bring to a soft boil and reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Add in the fresh albacore, adding additional water if needed to cover the top of the fish. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the fish tests done - flakes easily and is opaque throughout.
- Remove from the court bouillon and let cool.
For the Nicoise salad
- In 4 large salad bowls, place a serving sizes amount of Romaine lettuce leaves on each plate. Arrange on each salad plate: 3 ounces tuna, 3 ounces red potatoes, 2 ounces green beans, 1 each tomato quartered, 1 each hard boiled egg, and 3 each kalamata olives.
- Whisk together the red wine vinegar, olive oil, pressed garlic clove and Dijon mustard. Drizzle some over the top of each salad. Top with tarragon leaves and serve immediately.