Description
Salade niçoise is the LEGENDARY composed salad of the French Riviera, but this version swaps the canned tuna for grilled fresh ahi steaks seared rare. The beauty is in the composition, each element arranged deliberately on the plate rather than tossed together. Hard-boiled eggs, tiny potatoes, haricots verts, olives, and a sharp Dijon vinaigrette.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 4 ahi tuna steaks (5 ounces each)
- 1 lb small red or fingerling potatoes
- 1/2 lb haricots verts (French green beans), trimmed
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup Niçoise or Kalamata olives
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tablespoons olive oil for the tuna
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 small shallot, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh tarragon or parsley, chopped
- 4 anchovy fillets (optional)
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, let cool slightly, and cut in half. In the same water, blanch the haricots verts for 3 minutes until crisp-tender. Shock in ice water and drain.
- Place the eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Transfer to ice water, then peel and quarter.
- Make the vinaigrette: whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, shallot, salt, and pepper.
- Brush the tuna steaks with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Grill or sear in a hot skillet 1 to 2 minutes per side for rare to medium-rare.
- Let the tuna rest 2 minutes, then slice against the grain.
- Compose the salad: arrange the potatoes, haricots verts, eggs, olives, and tomatoes in sections on a large platter or individual plates. Fan the sliced tuna across the center. Lay the anchovies across the tuna if using.
- Drizzle the vinaigrette over everything and finish with fresh herbs.
Notes
- This is a composed salad, not a tossed one. Each component is placed intentionally so guests can take what they want in each bite.
- The tuna should be rare in the center — searing it beyond medium-rare dries it out and defeats the purpose of using fresh tuna.
- The vinaigrette can be made hours ahead and actually improves as it sits. Shake or whisk before dressing the salad.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 450
- Sugar: 4
- Sodium: 740
- Fat: 24
- Carbohydrates: 22
- Fiber: 4
- Protein: 40
- Cholesterol: 210