Yesterday I was at Meijer trying to decide what veggies looked nice and fresh to munch on for the upcoming week when I noticed how nice their green beans looked. I brought them home and washed them and got to thinking about a link to a Salade Niçoise I had ran across from Simply Recipes.
from Simply Recipes
I returned to the page and was reminded how I did not like tomatoes or olives and how much of challenge it'd be to decrease this to a two person portion. It didn't help that the description of the salad gave me a feeling that the recipe wasn't in the traditional style and for my first Niçoise experience, I want as close to traditional as I can get.
Hopping back to Google, I came up with a couple other recipes - Julia Child's version of the recipe (also with less than traditional boiled potatoes) and the Epicurious recipe which serves eight to ten (yikes!) and involves fresh tuna, anchovies and chervil (double yikes!).
from wiskblog
Finally I came across an article / recipe from The Telegraph in the UK about the "real" Salade Niçoise and apparently "so long as the raw materials sing of the south of France, they fit." Traditional style, check. Unfussy ingredients, check. Recipe easily made for two, check. I think I've found a winner, ladies and gentleman!
The telegraph article describes the ingredients as follows (for four):
- Two handfuls broad beans, boiled for one minute
- Six large tomatoes, also boiled
- One green pepper, sliced thinly
- One red pepper, sliced thinly
- Twelve radishes, sliced thinly
- Two spring onions, sliced thinly
- One cucumber, peeled and sliced
- Six hard (or not quite hard) boiled eggs
All of this is brought together in a bowl rubbed with a raw garlic clove and anchovy (or tuna!), black olives and basil, then dressed with red wine vinegar aand olive oil. I'm can't wait to put it all together!
from lukehoney
Now... does anyone have suggestions for a fittingly light (French, perhaps) dessert to go with it?
