I had my first ever Niçoise salad while eating outdoors in Aix-en-Provence, France. The setting was magical and the salad was one of the best I ever tasted. I was living in Florence at the time, and my parents came to visit and we set out on a road trip through Northern Italy, Switzerland and France. We saw many beautiful scenes, famous shops and ate our weight in delicious food.
At the time, I spoke zero French and had little familiarity with French food. Luckily my mom spoke enough French to help us navigate streets and menus alike. (Although not enough to prevent her from ordering a child’s ice cream desert served in a small plastic Smurf head. She thought the “Le Smurf” sounded adventurous, and turns out, it was indeed a “Le Smurf”).
We were nearing the end of our trip and found ourselves in the most delightful city of Aix. During our last call for French food, we enjoyed a late lunch on a sidewalk cafe. This is where I met my favorite salad. There was also a Gap around the corner which was extremely exciting because I was in desperate need of new jeans. What a great day it was!
Fast forward a couple of decades, and I have now found a local restaurant that serves their own take on the classic Niçoise subbing seared ahi for canned or jarred tuna and adding potatoes, which is common outside of France. It’s been a favorite special occasion meal for many years…until the pandemic hit. It has been almost comical, as I have tried to order this salad to go on several occasions, and each time there is some ridiculous situation that has left me scrambling for a back up plan. Now that things are a little more back to normal, I love that it’s still an option, but I have since been forced to fend for myself to get my niçoise fix.
Ingredients
4 oz. butter lettuce
1 lbs. small potatoes
1 14 oz. can cut green beans
8 fillets anchovies
1 can sardines in oil
1 avocado, sliced
4 large eggs, boiled medium and quartered
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 cup cucumbers, sliced
1 cup red pepper, sliced
3 tbsp. capers
1 12 oz. can white beans
1/2 cup kalamata olives, niçoise olives, or a mix
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
7 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. avocado oil
Instructions
1.) Cook the potatoes
Wash and slice potatoes into quarters. Steam until they can easily be pierced with a fork. Pour potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with sea salt and 3 tbsp. avocado oil. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until desired crispness is achieved. Set out to cool to room temperature.
2.) Mix the dressing
In a lidded jar, mix the shallot, dijon, 5 tbsp. olive oil and 3 tbsp. red wine vinegar. Shake vigorously.
3.) Prepare the Beans
Drain and rinse the white beans. Mix in 2 tbps. olive oil and 3 tbsp. capers.
4.) Dress the greens
If you wish to pre-dress the salad, add desired amount of dressing to lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Toss gently and add salt and pepper to taste.
5.) Add additional ingredients
Add what you like, topping with additional dressing, salt and pepper if desired.
There are a lot of ingredients if we go all out and use everything, but they are typically things we have on hand. Aside from a few nonnegotiables, many of the ingredients can be skipped if you don’t have them handy.
We like to set it up and serve buffet style to make all our picky eaters happy, but the salads can also be preassembled. I personally go back and forth between setting up my plate in sections or randomly sprinkling everything atop a bed of lettuce. Whichever way I go, it always results in a hearty and nutrition meal that is fun to eat – even when I’m not at a dreamy sidewalk cafe.