Introduction
Salade niçoise is a summer salad of ripe tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tuna, anchovies and small black olives, dressed with olive oil. With canned tuna it is cheap and needs almost no cooking, and it makes a full meal for a hot day with bread.
The salad comes from Nice, on the French Riviera. What belongs in it has been argued over for decades. Jacques Médecin, mayor of Nice, wrote in his 1972 cookbook that it must never contain boiled potatoes or any other boiled vegetable. Auguste Escoffier, born near Nice, added potatoes and green beans, as many cooks still do. This recipe gives the raw version, with potatoes and beans as an option. Use the ripest tomatoes you can find.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 500 g ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
- 4 spring onions, sliced
- 2 cans of tuna in olive oil (2 × 160 g), drained
- 8 anchovy fillets in oil
- 80 g small black olives
- a few basil leaves
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- salt and black pepper
Optional, Escoffier’s way:
- 300 g small new potatoes, boiled and halved
- 200 g green beans, boiled for 5 minutes and cooled
Tools
- A small saucepan for the eggs
- A large salad bowl or serving plate
Preparation
- Lower the eggs into boiling water and cook for 9 minutes. Cool them in cold water, peel and cut into quarters.
- Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and leave them for 10 minutes to release some juice.
- Whisk the oil and vinegar with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Arrange the tomatoes, pepper, spring onions (and the potatoes and beans, if using) in the bowl and pour over half the dressing.
- Top with the tuna in large flakes, the eggs, anchovies and olives. Pour over the rest of the dressing, tear the basil over the top and serve.