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Summer Vegetable Niçoise Salad
Updated Oct. 10, 2023
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- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Prep Time
- 45 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1small shallot, finely diced
- 2garlic cloves, smashed to a paste
- 3tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
- 1pound small round potatoes or fingerlings
- Salt and black pepper
- 6eggs
- 3cups shucked fresh shelling beans, such as cranberry beans (about 3 pounds of pods), or use 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini or cranberry beans, drained and rinsed
- 1pound green beans, preferably a mix of green beans, yellow wax beans and flat Romano beans
- 1pound cherry tomatoes, halved
- 5ounces arugula
- 1handful basil leaves, for garnish
- 1(6- to 8-ounce) can tuna, preferably ventresca (optional)
- Aioli, for serving
For the Vinaigrette
For the Salad
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, put shallot, garlic and vinegar. Whisk in olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Step 2
Cook potatoes: Place potatoes in a medium pot over high heat, cover with water and add a good pinch of salt. Boil for about 15 minutes, until tender. Let cool, then cut in half.
- Step 3
Cook eggs: In the same pot, boil the eggs until runny in the center, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl with ice water to cool. Peel and halve them while the beans cook.
- Step 4
Cook fresh shelling beans: Place in a small saucepan and cover with 2 inches of water. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn heat down to low and simmer until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Let the beans cool in their own broth. (If using canned beans, skip this step.)
- Step 5
Blanch the green beans: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans and cook till just done, about 3 minutes. Remove from water and spread out on a baking sheet or platter to cool. Repeat with wax beans and Romano beans, if using.
- Step 6
Assemble the salad: Place drained shelling beans, green beans, potatoes and cherry tomatoes in a large bowl or serving platter. Season everything with salt and pepper, then toss gently, using your hands. Pour the vinaigrette over, then toss gently, again using your hands.
- Step 7
Place egg halves over the vegetables, surround with arugula and scatter basil leaves over the top. Top with tuna, if using. Pass a bowl of aioli, if desired.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
We absolutely loved this salad. Rather than use canned tuna, we cooked some fresh tuna on the grill and added some salt and pepper and cubed it. The remainder of the recipe was made per the recipe. Definitely makes enough for six servings. Time consuming recipe but we will make this a summer regular recipe. We added 6 pieces of genovese basil per serving and it really gave it a wonderful flavor.
This was delicious! I left out the arugula and subbed the basil for fresh dill. I would add capers next time. Great al fresco summer meal :)
This was very good and quite easy actually. Start potatoes boiling, after 6 or 7 minutes add eggs, remove eggs at desired timing, add green beans for final 3 minutes. Cool all a bit then proceed with recipe using canned cannellini beans.
This is very tasty. Do add a good quantity of tasty olives. We’ve used dry black olives (salt cured) and Kalamata. Adding some capers takes this up a notch. I recommend chiffonading a leaf or two of basil and adding it to the dressing to incorporate more fresh basil flavor.
A Niçoise salad without olives? Pas possible! Looks tasty all the same but call it something else.
This is perfectly divine. I made it with fresh tuna steaks caught off the coast of Catalina Island. The fresh basil and the arugula add just the right flavors. We loved it. It’s easy and will become a regular at our house.
David , This is wonderful but it's hard to improv on your salad Nicoise in a Platter of Figs, A family favorite.
Canned Tuna available in US is bland. Either use fresh or get better tuna from Spain or France.
Instead of canned tuna I cooked fresh frozen wild caught salmon. I did a half poach/half sauté: season fish with salt & pepper, powdered garlic, a splash of tamari and white wine. Place in a hot pan, cover and cook gently until internal temp is about 140 and fish appears to be about half cooked or to your liking. Cool briefly, break fish up and lay pieces on top of salad greens mixture. Serve with fresh capers on the side along with fresh bread dipped into jalapeño olive oil.
Great recipe of the day! So simple and so satisfying. It’s summer so when I buy potatoes and green beans at the farmers market I cook the potatoes and blanch the beans. So we are always ready to make this salad. It is a great no fuss meal this way.
Delicious. Asparagus looked better at the grocery store than green beans, used baby kale instead of arugula, added sweet habaneros, lots of Thai basil for basil, skipped the eggs out of laziness. Lovely, flexible.
This was very good and quite easy actually. Start potatoes boiling, after 6 or 7 minutes add eggs, remove eggs at desired timing, add green beans for final 3 minutes. Cool all a bit then proceed with recipe using canned cannellini beans.
We absolutely loved this salad. Rather than use canned tuna, we cooked some fresh tuna on the grill and added some salt and pepper and cubed it. The remainder of the recipe was made per the recipe. Definitely makes enough for six servings. Time consuming recipe but we will make this a summer regular recipe. We added 6 pieces of genovese basil per serving and it really gave it a wonderful flavor.
This was delicious! I left out the arugula and subbed the basil for fresh dill. I would add capers next time. Great al fresco summer meal :)
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