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Nicoise salad is one of the most famous dish from the Cote d Azur region, and recipes using the term Nicoise have strict rules to follow.
Too often traditional recipes have been misrepresented by “unscrupulous” cooks and I have no intention of getting into trouble with locals.
So I did some research and on my French cooking bible, Larousse Gastronomique (amazon affiliate link) the world greatest culinary encyclopedia, I found its definition:
Nicoise
“the name given to various dishes typical of the cuisine around Nice, in which the most common ingredients are garlic, olives, anchovies, tomatoes and French green beans”
From Larousse Gastronomique: The World’s Greatest Culinary Encyclopedia
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I made this Nicoise salad with the Organic Tomatoes and the other vegetables I bought from the farmer market, so I am using Nicoise ingredients.
But that is not all….
Nicoise salad
“Finally, Salad Nicoise is a typical southern dish containing tomatoes, cucumber locally grown fresh broad fava beans or small artichokes, green peppers, raw onions, hard boiled eggs, anchovis filets or tuna, black ripe Nice olives, olive oil, garlic an basil.
Neither potatoes nor cooked vegetables should be added to this salad.”
So I guess I am in trouble here, but I always had Nicoise salad with green beans, not broad beans which are difficult to find when out of season. So, take it with a grain of salt, this my version of Nicoise salad you can have all year round.
More traditional recipes from Nice
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Nicoise Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 head roman lettuce
- 6 oz cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cucumber
- 2 oz green beans boiled for 5 minutes
- 1/2 red onion thin cut rings
- 5 oz tuna canned in olive oil, drained best if stored in glass can
- 2 boiled eggs
- 6 filets anchovies stored in salt
- 10 nicoise olives
- 1/2 tsp original English mustard
- 3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- salt
- lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
Looking for kitchen gadget gifts?Instructions
- Wash the lettuce and cut the leaves for the salad
- Cook the eggs to hard boiled, then cut them in small slices. You can use the Colour Changing Egg Timer & the Egg Cutter from my Amazon shop section: Other items
- Boil the green beans in salted water for 5 minutes only so they remain crunchy
- Drain the tuna from its oil and wash the anchovy filets if they are preserved in salt
- Cut the onion in thin rings
- Put all the ingredients together
- To prepare the vinaigrette mix the olive oil, the juice of half lemon, salt and 1/2 of tsp of English mustard. If you have an empty jar of English mustard use that to mix the dressing with the mustard left in the can
- Season and serve
Notes
Fat 15 gr per serving
Carbohydrates 7gr per serving
Proteins 16gr per serving
Sugar 4 gr per serving
Sodium 552mg per serving To lower the amount of sodium do not add the olives
Sarah Newman
Wow, those organic tomatoes look heavenly!! So fresh and vibrant, I bet it really enhanced the salad!
Laura
they definitely do
Ginny
Such a classic and great lesson.
Kavita Favelle | Kavey Eats
Nicoise always takes me straight to southern France, those Mediterranean flavours are so evocative. For me, anchovies, green beans and black olives are essential, and yes, garlic, tomatoes and tuna.
Laura
Yes, very Mediterranean indeed
Monica | Nourish & Fete
Personally I am completely fine with having and sharing your own take on something like this – that’s half the fun of cooking and experimenting and sharing recipes! I love your take on this classic, and would definitely enjoy this at any time of year!
Laura
Thank you Monica, I have seen it served with green beans often so even the Nicoises must have adapted