We’ve finally crawled our way out of 2020 and into a new year filled with hope and hopefully less COVID! After a wild two weeks of eating everything in sight, I’m ready for a 2021 cleanse!
What’s better than a beautiful Niçoise salad with a wintery twist to start the New Year?
Niçoise salads were born in Nice, France, and they’re traditionally made with fresh tomatoes, green beans, hard-boiled eggs, olives, tuna and olive oil.
Since we’re in the depths of the winter season, I decided to play off the warm flavors that I’m craving. I roasted my tomatoes, added roasted asparagus instead of greens beans, and potatoes with toasted shallot rings. It’s the perfect balance between tradition and a new twist on Niçoise!
With fresh tuna and a simple creamy mustard sauce, you’ll have a little piece of France right in your own kitchen.
Not a tuna fan? Easily substitute baked or poached salmon!
My STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO below will help guide you through the recipe. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for recipe videos every week!
Makes: 2 niçoise salads
Prep time: 35 minutes
Cook time: 55 minutes
Total time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
The Ingredients
½ pound fresh ahi tuna (or sub canned tuna or baked/poached salmon!)
3 eggs
2 tablespoons pitted Niçoise (coquillo) or Kalamata olives
6 Campari tomatoes, halved (or sub cherry tomatoes)
8 ounces baby (peewee) potatoes, halved
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and peeled
5 ounces greens (I like spinach or a lettuce blend)
¼ cup dijon mustard
~½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, cut into thin rings
Salt & pepper
The Steps
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
For eggs: Hard-boil eggs, peel and cut each egg in half. Here are the step-by-step instructions!
For roasted veggies: In a single layer (and each ingredient separated from each other) place halved tomatoes cut-side up, asparagus, and potatoes on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle shallot rings on top of potatoes. Drizzle generously with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, remove asparagus from sheet and set aside. Place baking sheet with potatoes and tomatoes back in the oven for 3-6 minutes on a high broil until tomatoes look wrinkly and potatoes/shallots just start to brown. Remove from oven and let cool.
For greens: In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, ¼ cup olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss half of the mustard mixture with the greens.
For tuna: drizzle olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Be careful: hot oil may spatter! Add fresh tuna and let side #1 cook for 2-3 minutes for medium-rare. Flip tuna to side #2 and cook for 2-3 minutes. Touch other sides to hot pan for 30 seconds. Test tuna by pulling tuna apart slightly with two forks. Tuna should be red on the inside, fading to pink and then brown on the edges for medium-rare. Cook both sides for an additional minute if tuna is too rare for your taste! Remove from pan and let rest while plating veggies.
TIP: cooking time varies based on the thickness of your tuna! Keep testing tuna for desired doneness!
To plate: Plate dressed greens evenly in 2 shallow bowls or large plates. Arrange the eggs, olives, asparagus, tomatoes and potatoes on each bed of lettuce. Slice tuna against the grain and add to plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place remaining mustard mixture in ramekins to serve with salads, or add dollops of the dressing on top of salads.
Serve as-is or with crusty ciabatta or focaccia bread!
The Steps with Video
My STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO below will help guide you through the recipe. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for recipe videos every week!
