Family friendly Niçoise salad
Niçoise salad originated in the French city of Nice. It is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, olives, anchovies and dressed with olive oil. Tuna may be added to it, as well as green beans and potatoes. A great dinner salad full of flavors and textures. And this is my family friendly version of it.
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 30 minutes mins
Course Main Course, Salad
Cuisine French
Servings 4 people
Calories 616 kcal
Lentils
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 cup lentils (I used red lentils, but other types of lentils work just as well)
- ½ ltr vegetable broth (use homemade* or store bought. You can even just use water and use extra salt to season)
Tuna marinate
- 1½ lbs freshly caught tuna filet
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
Marinated tomatoes/ dressing
- 1 cup tomatoes (cut in 4 or 8. Or use cherry tomatoes and cut them in half)
- ¾ cup olive oil
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp mustard (any will do, I used grained Dijon mustard)
~
- 1 small red onion (in thin wedges)
- 1 lbs green beans (ends trimmed and cut in half if too long)
- 4 small organic eggs (boiled, peeled, cut in half)
- 6 small/baby potatoes (boiled, unpeeled, cut in half)
- ¼ cup green olives (use whatever type of olive you prefer)
- 1 handful basil leaves
- 1 handful greens (like kale or arugula) (optional)
- 4 anchovy fillets (optional)
Prepare everything for the salad
While the lentils are cooking, the tomatoes and tuna are marinating:- blanch the green beans. Boil water in a stock pot, add the green beans for just a few minutes, drain, rinse and set aside. A quick blanch will keep the green beans crunchy.- Boil the potatoes, drain them, let them cool a little bit (otherwise you will burn your fingers cutting them) and cut them lengthwise. Sprinkle with some sea salt and set them aside.- Boil the eggs, drain, rinse in ice cold water (this will allow you to peel them more easily), peel and cut them lenghtwise. Sprinkle with some sea salt and set them aside.- Bring out the red onion wedges, olives and basil leaves. This way you have everything ready to assemble your salad the moment the tuna is ready.
Prepare the tuna
To prepare the tuna, heat up a skillet and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Take the tuna out of the marinate. Sear the tuna quickly. You want the outside to be crunchy, but the inside should still be rare and pink.
*homemade vegetable broth
Nutritional information:
the information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.