Salade Niçoise | Julia Child’s Mediterranean Combination Salad

This is a composed salad, meaning that you prepare each component of the salad in a separate dish. Season each with dressing and seasonings. When you’re ready to serve, arrange components of the salad in a serving bowl or platter. I love this combination approach because of its flexibility and versatility. You may serve it as a main or a side, for lunch and dinner. Set against some soft cheese and crusty bread, this can be a beautiful green centerpiece on a picnic table. At the same time, the salade niçoise can be an extravagant compliment to grilled meat or roast chicken on a hot summer day. More importantly, salade niçoise has a sway and pull to take the center stage.

Salade niçoise is a classic French bistro dish. How often do you look for a delightful and extravagant salad dish while you’re on vacation and forgoing the heavier alternatives? Nothing else but a salad kind of days! Among the salad offerings around the world, I think salade niçoise is the grandest of all and my favorite.

Tuna, anchovies, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, hard-boiled eggs and greens are the usual elements for a salade niçoise. You may also consider adding black olives, capers, red bell pepper to the mix. At this time of the year, fresh green herbs are a must!

Print Recipe

Salade Niçoise

Serves: 6-8 people

Ingredients

• 3 cups, cold, blanched, green (or frozen) beans
• 3 or 4 tomatoes, quartered
• 1 cup French vinaigrette (see more below)
• 1 bunch of arugula or other mixed greens
• 3 cups French potato salad (I used some roasted potatoes)
• 1 cup canned tuna chunks, drained
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives, preferably the dry Mediterranean type
• 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs, cold, peeled and quartered
• 6 to 12 canned anchovy filets, drained
• 2 to 3 tbsp minced, fresh green herbs
• FOR THE SAUCE VINAIGRETTE (FRENCH DRESSING):
• 1/2 to 2 tbsp good wine vinaigrette or a mixture of vinaigrette and lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard, optional
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 to 2 tbsp minced green herbs, such as parsley, chives, tarragon, basil or pinch of dried herbs

Instructions

1

Just before serving, season the beans and tomatoes with several spoonfuls of vinaigrette. Toss the green in the salad bowl with 1/4 cup of vinaigrette, and place the leaves around the edges of the platter. Arrange the potatoes on one side. Decorate with the beans and tomatoes, interspersing them with a design of tuna chunks, olives, eggs and anchovies. Pour the remaining dressings over the salad, sprinkle with herbs and serve.

Notes

Adpated from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Jula Child, Louisette Berthholle and Simone Beach