Good friends came for lunch yesterday and I planned a summery meal Here’s the menu…
Zucchini Soup, Salade Nicoise, French Baguette, and Fresh Peach Pie
In the words of Juila Child… “Salade Nicoise is a fine example of how to combine a number of good things into a happy whole, as well as into a whole main course.” (Exactly!)
She continues…”A bountiful arrangement in bowl or platter is so handsome to behold that I think it is a cruel shame to toss everything together into a big mess.” (Julia doesn’t mince words, just herbs)…
She continues …”A careful presentation means more work, but it’s easily manageable when you ready each of the numerous ingredients separately, which you can do well ahead. Season each just before assembling and serving, and you will have the perfect Salade Niciose.”
So, being a fan of Julia, I followed her advice, tweaking the ingredients a bit to my own liking, and presented the platter pictured above for our lunch. I hope she would approve.
In fact I moved the flowers on the table to the Island, and the Salade Nicoise made a lovely centerpiece for our meal.
Cooked potatoes, blanched green beans (or haricots vert, if you can find them), hard-cooked eggs, ripe tomatoes, nicoise olives, and oil-packed tuna are traditionally the components of this salad.
Each component is tossed separately in a bit of the vinaigrette and allowed to sit and absorb the flavors before arranging the platter. However, salt the eggs and tomatoes prior to assembling, but drizzle them once assembled on the platter when you may give a little drizzle to everything.
I lined the platter with cold Boston lettuce leaves which had been cleaned, dried and crisped in the fridge the day before, and drizzled some dressing on them after arranging on the dish.
I absolutely love the canned yellowfin tuna in olive oil and always have it in my pantry. Feel free to use seared fresh tuna, if you prefer, but Julia recommends, oil-packed tuna, drained and flaked, just sayin’.
I boiled my eggs in the morning for about 9 to10 minutes (if you like them softer you could do 8), and cut them lengthwise into quarters. Keep them chilled until assembling the platter. Make sure to salt them liberally.
I bought beautiful fresh green beans from the farmers market, selecting the most slender ones to imitate haricots vert. The morning of I prepared, chilled, and wrapped them in a towel in a ziplock bag until ready to dress and assemble.
Here is how Julia prepares the green beans…Drop them into boiling, salted water, cover briefly to bring it back to the boil. Remove the cover and boil uncovered till beans are just cooked through, but retain a slight crunch of texture-about 4 minutes for whole beans. Test by eating several. Chill until ready to drizzle with dressing and assemble on platter.
Julia says…the faster you chill the beans the greener and fresher they will remain.
Before assembling I also washed, dried and halved the red and yellow grape tomatoes, salted them lightly and set them aside on the counter, (never put tomatoes in the fridge!)
I sliced a fresh cucumber on the diagonal, leaving a bit of the peel showing for color.
Now for the fun part! Begin arranging mounds of your ingredients on the vinaigrette drizzled lettuce lined platter in any arrangement which pleases you.
I added some drained,grilled marinated artichoke hearts (available in a jar) at some supermarkets. Not traditional, but seemed to go perfectly with the other ingredients.
When you have it arranged as you like it, toss freely some capers and olives ( I also bought the large green Cerignola olives in addition to the niciose).
I added some flat anchovies rolled up and scattered on the hard cooked eggs.
Note: You can make some French Potato Salad ahead instead of boiling the potatoes and drizzling with dressing. Make sure you dress them while still warm so they will absorb the flavors. Either way, chill, bring to room temperature, and add a bit more dressing before placing on your platter.
When ready to serve, everyone can help themselves to the composed salad and combine it as preferred on his or her own plate.
Serve a nice crusty baguette with it and you need nothing else.
Bon Appetit!
Vinaigrette Dressing
¼ cup white wine vinegar
½ shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon freshly minced garlic
freshly ground black pepper to taste
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Combine all ingredients except the olive oil in a jar or container with a tight fitting lid. Mix and/or shake well to blend.
Whisk in the olive oil slowly in a stream until the dressing becomes emulsified.
Taste for seasoning.
Keep chilled in jar till ready to use. Bring to room temperature and shake well before dressing the salad. Dressing can be made ahead for flavors to meld.