These are the best kinds of summer salads! They are fresh and filling while not leaving you with an oncoming food coma afterwards. You can still jump and dance or just sit and lift your glass of wine with little effort at all!
Salade Niçoise with Grilled Asparagus
serves 2
110 g canned tuna without liquid
350 g grilled asparagus (BBQ, panini grill)
160 g thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
230 g steamed potato wedges
90 g black olives-roughly chopped
25 g thinly sliced onion
25 g thinly sliced celery rib
100 ml citrus-chive mayo
1 hard-boiled egg
s&p
Lemon-Chive Mayo
100 g mayo
1/2 lemon zested
1 lemon juiced (40 ml)
13 g finely chopped chives
s&p
Mix all of the sauce ingredients into a bowl and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
Slice all of the potatoes into wedges and place in a bowl with s&p and 1-2 T olive oil. Mix it well. Get a steamer ready with boiling water and place the potatoes inside with a lid. Steam for 15 minutes or until they are easily poked with the sharp point of the knife and almost fall off. Set them on a plate to cool. This kind of recipe would rather have your potatoes more overcooked than undercooked. You want them to fall apart from a fork cutting into them.
Pause...take of sip of wine. Resume cooking...
Sprinkle some olive oil and s&p on your asparagus and grill it for about 4 minutes on a BBQ, or on a panini machine with the lid closed. You can also "grill" them in the oven on the grill setting until they are tender and a little browned. BUT, be careful not to burn them! Set aside to cool.
Thinly slice and/or cut the rest of your ingredients. Place everything into a big salad bowl and mix gently trying to not break the potatoes too much. After plating, place the cut, hard-boiled egg on top.
This reason why this salad is soooo good, is the tuna adds depth in flavor, the olives add a salty bite that explodes when eaten, the veggie ingredients are fresh & crispy and the sauce is creamy and zesty. It's very well balanced.
I just realized right meow, that this dish has got everything in it but spiciness. And I can honestly say that adding some sriracha to the dressing might actually make a non-traditional version into a pretty kick-ass "Spicy Tuna" Niçoise salad. This would add an extra element of infusion to the dish, would might just elevate the crap out of it. Until next time, Niçoise, until next time.......