Niçoise-ish Salad
A bright & simple summer salad
A bright & simple summer salad
This is a perfectly simple and ultra-fresh salad for a warm summer day. I like making this for an easy lunch: I boil the potatoes at the start of the week so they’re easy to throw into bowls or salads, quicker to sear with bacon at breakfast, or roast in the oven in record time for dinner. This dressing is lovely on essentially any salad—or as a dip with crudités—and you can make a double batch if you’d like to keep it around for the week. I wrote this to serve 2 as a lunch: the number of eggs you make are dependent on how hungry you are, and the egg pictured here went in the water for an 8-minute boil. If you’d like the yolk slightly more runny to coat your veggies, boil it for 1 minute less.
For the salad
1x can albacore tuna, drained
1 small lemon
8 Small New Potatoes
4 Persian cucumbers
Handful of Castelvetrano olives
Handful of sugar snap or snow peas
Handful of Pepperoncini or Pippara peppers
1 small avocado
2-4 eggs
For the dressing
2 Tbsp dijon mustard, horseradish and green peppercorn are my favorites here
2 tsp white wine or champagne vinegar
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 Tbsp fresh parsley, dill, or tarragon
Kosher salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
Flaky salt
Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
Start by boiling your potatoes: fill a large pot with water, a couple of tablespoons of kosher salt, and bring to a boil. Carefully lower 8 small potatoes into the water and boil for 15 minutes, until fork tender. Strain the potatoes out and allow them to cool in a small bowl.
Meanwhile, make your salad dressing: roughly chop 2-3 Tbsp fresh herbs. Add those to a jar along with 2 Tbsp dijon mustard and 2 tsp white wine vinegar. Whisk with a fork/tiny whisk to combine, then slowly drizzle in 6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil until fully combined. Add a pinch of kosher salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper, then taste and adjust with more salt or vinegar if needed, but it should be pretty bright and punchy at this point!
Prep the rest of your salad: add the drained can of tuna to a small bowl, then drizzle in a little of the salad dressing and any loose herbs. Toss well and add some kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Halve your lemon and squeeze some of the juice over the tuna. Taste and adjust with more, if you’d like.
Make your jammy eggs in the same pot as you did the potatoes: bring the water back to a boil if needed, and lower 2-4 eggs in to the bottom of the pot. Set an 8 minute timer. Meanwhile, set aside an ice bath in a small bowl in your sink. Add the eggs into the ice bath, allowing them to sit for at least 3 minutes before peeling. The shells should slide right off. Roll the eggs in a little pinch of flaky salt and slice them in half.
Trim and slice 4 Persian cucumbers into wedges, halve a handful of Castelvetrano olives, halve a handful of sugar snap peas, and halve a few Pepperoncinis. Slice 1 small avocado and dress it with a little of the lemon juice you used for the tuna, then sprinkle some flaky salt over the top.
Slice your potatoes in half and toss with a little bit of the salad dressing and a pinch of flaky salt until they’re gently coated, then add all of your veggies (besides the avocado) into a large bowl. Toss with the dressing, then divide among two bowls or plates.
Add the fragile final components: the avocado slices and jammy eggs to your bowls. Top with any remaining dressing from the bottom of the jar, a pinch of flaky salt, pinch of aleppo pepper flakes, and, you guessed it, more freshly ground black pepper.
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