Salade Niçoise Lunch: Time to Rejoin the World!

My happy place is the South of France. So, when I hosted my first get-together after more than a year, I served my favorite salad from Nice, Salade Niçoise. I set the table with French dinnerware, with roses and lavender from my garden.

We sat under a market umbrella on a beautiful spring day, enjoying a glass of wine…. It was a glorious way to rejoin the world.

Planning the Luncheon

As a cautious first step in my return to entertaining, I limited the luncheon to just one friend. We are both fully vaccinated, but I chose an outdoor setting as the safest option.

Just because we’re outside doesn’t mean we can’t use good china, stemware and linens. To keep to the South of France theme, I set my table with dinnerware purchased over years vacationing in France. While I could never afford complete sets of anything, I’ve learned to mix and match.

The tablecloth, bought at a warehouse sale from a French boutique in the U.S., has a lavender pattern so I tucked lavender sprigs into napkin rings.

Salade Niçoise is a specialty of the city of Nice, on the French Riviera. You’ll find that everyone has an opinion about what belongs in this salad. Still, here’s what they have in common: canned tuna, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, olives, anchovies, and a vinaigrette dressing. If you don’t like anchovies, just omit them.

For a super-simple dessert, make a luscious fruit sorbet. (They’ll never guess your secret ingredient!)

Menu and Prep Tips

While this is a simple salad, there is some cooking involved if you follow my recipe. The French-style potato salad is optional, but I like the creamy texture that contrasts with the crunchy vegetables and the satisfying heft it gives to a salad main dish.

To streamline preparation, make the potato salad and blanch the green beans the night before, refrigerate, and bring to room temperature before serving.

Since you need to dress the greens and assemble the salad at the last minute, prep all the ingredients in small bowls, ready for plating.

To accompany the salad, there’s nothing better than a fresh baguette from the bakery. And for dessert, keep it simple with ice cream, topped with strawberries and a drizzle of homemade chocolate sauce.

Slice the berries and toss them with a little sugar before serving so the strawberries begin to give up their juices. Pass the chocolate sauce in a small pitcher.

The recipe below is just a starting point. You can vary the vegetables, depending on what’s in season. This is not an exact recipe–you’ll end up with more vinaigrette than you need. Pour the remainder in a bowl and pass it, for guests who want extra dressing. Use any remainder for salad another time.

Salade Niçoise

• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 russet or waxy potatoes (about 5 ounces each)
• 1 tablespoon white wine
• 2 teaspoons chopped herbs, such as basil or flat-leaf parsley
• 3½ ounces green beans, ends trimmed
• 4 cups prewashed baby greens
• ¼ small red pepper, sliced thinly
• ½ small cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 can (5 ounces) albacore tuna, packed in olive oil
• 4 anchovies (or more, if you like anchovies)
• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 10 olives
• 3 hard-cooked eggs, quartered
• Thinly sliced onion rings from a sweet onion, for garnish

Method

1. Make the vinaigrette: In a bowl, combine vinegar, mustard and salt; whisk to combine. Dribble in oil a little at a time, whisking vigorously until the oil is completely incorporated into the dressing. Taste and add more salt if, needed. You should have a little over ½ cup of dressing.
2. Make the potato salad: Peel and slice potatoes ¼-inch thick. Add enough water to cover and boil potatoes until just tender. Drain, transfer to a bowl, and dribble the wine over potatoes, tossing so the potatoes absorb the liquid. While potatoes are still slightly warm, add 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and toss until vinaigrette is absorbed. Taste and season with salt and more vinaigrette, if needed. When cool, add herbs and toss again. Set aside.
3. Make the green beans: Cover green beans with cold water; bring to a boil and cook just until beans are tender but still crisp. Drain, transfer to a bowl, add 2 teaspoons of the vinaigrette and toss. Taste and season with salt and more vinaigrette, if needed. Set aside.
4. To make the salad base: In a medium bowl, add greens, red pepper, and cucumber. Toss with ¼ cup of the vinaigrette. Taste and season with salt and more vinaigrette, if needed.
5. To assemble: Use half the ingredients on each of two dinner plates, dividing equally. First, portion out the salad base, spreading out evenly. Spoon potato salad in the center. Spoon green beans over the potato salad. Top with tuna, broken in large chunks with a fork. Add anchovies over tuna. Scatter tomatoes and olives around the edge of the plate. Position egg quarters, equally spaced, around the edge of the plate. Garnish with a few onion rings. Pass the remaining dressing.

Makes 2 servings.

Notes:

• Use best-quality canned tuna.
• I love olive oil, but if you like a subtler taste, use half olive oil and half vegetable oil for the vinaigrette.
• Black Niçoise olives are standard, but I’ve had various other kinds of olives in Salad Niçoise in France. For this lunch, I used kalamata olives because that’s what I had.

About the Tableware

Most everyone collects mementos as they travel. My favorite things to collect are Christmas ornaments and tableware. I can’t afford to buy complete sets of everything, and in some ways, I prefer not to–to avoid sameness when setting the table.

Sometimes, we have the fragile items shipped home; then it’s like Christmas when the packages arrive weeks later. Sometimes, we wrap the items carefully and hand-carry them back. These collections have a practical use and they bring back fond memories.

Here’s what’s on today’s table:

• Henriot Quimper faïence dinner plates–we purchased them after seeing how the china is made in the town of Quimper. We made a special trip to Quimper, a city in Brittany, just for the faïence.
• La Verrerie de Biot blue hand-blown bubble glass from Provence–we toured the studio to watch master glass blowers create this unique glass and spent the night in the medieval village. (The clear stemmed glasses in the photo are just inexpensive glasses we purchased at home.)
• Covered butter dish from Faïencerie de Gien–we visited the factory in Gien, situated in the Loire Valley. The pattern is called Caraïbes (Caribbean Islands); we have just the one dish.
• Aria stainless steel and resin flatware from Christofle–we bought these in Paris and just own a small set of forks, knives and spoons; the design has been discontinued.

Call Me Grandma on Holiday

I’ll be off for the next two weeks to refresh and retool, returning after Memorial Day on Wednesday, June 2, with more ideas for summer fun with the grandkids!

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