Salad Nicoise

[thoreau]

If you'd like you can watch a quick video I made of construction  that I uploaded to Youtube

From Julia Child, "Of all main-course salads, the Niçoise is my all-time favorite, with its fresh butter-lettuce foundation; its carefully cooked, beautifully green green beans; its colorful contrast of halved hard-boiled eggs, ripe red tomatoes, and black olives; all fortified by chunks of tunafish and freshly opened anchovies. It's a perfect luncheon dish, to my mind, winter, summer, spring, and fall — an inspired combination that pleases everyone."

Ingredients:

• 1 large head Boston-lettuce leaves, washed and dried
• 1 pound green beans, cooked and refreshed
• 1-1/2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup basic vinaigrette
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 or 4 ripe red tomatoes, cut into wedges (or 10 to 12 cherry tomatoes, halved)
• 3 or 4 "boiling" potatoes, peeled, sliced, and cooked
• Two 3-ounce cans chunk tuna, preferably oil-packed
• 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
• 1 freshly opened can of flat anchovy fillets
• 1/3 cup small black Niçoise-type olives
• 2 to 3 tablespoons capers
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

In my version: my basic vinaigrette is fresh juice from two lemons, white balsalmic vinegar, olive oil and finely diced mango. (shaken then left in a salad dressing jar in the fridge overnight). I also use scottish butter potatoes and I skip the shallots. I ALWAYS serve mine with seared ahi in lieu of canned tuna.:) but - the recipe is pretty much julias after that. Tonight I used cherry tomatoes off our hydroponic garden in replace for bigger chunks of tomato.

Instructions:

Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large platter or in a shallow bowl. Shortly before serving, toss the beans with the shallots, spoonfuls of vinaigrette, and salt and pepper. Baste the tomatoes with a spoonful of vinaigrette. Place the potatoes in the center of the platter and arrange a mound of beans at either end, with tomatoes and small mounds of tuna at strategic intervals. Ring the platter with halves of hard-boiled eggs, sunny side up, and curl an anchovy on top of each. Spoon more vinaigrette over all; scatter on olives, capers, and parsley, and serve.