Delicious Summery Salad Nicoise with Tuna, Tomatoes, Olives, and More

Salad nicoise - ready for the picking! 

This salad has its origins in France, in Nice to be more exact, which rests by the Mediterranean. This is a particularly tasty and rich salad, so tasty is it, that we have made it a number of times since we first came across the recipe. It is an ideal summer dish, perfected by the company of a cold glass of white wine, but it doesn't seem to be any worse come autumn when night arrives sooner and cold winds speak louder. Of course there are a few varieties of the salad, though most similar, and all include vegetables, tuna, olives, boiled eggs and of course anchovies. Hold on ... don't stop reading! Anchovies have for some strange reason been expelled from many a kitchens. For no good reason at all! Anchovies stored in good oil are a delightful addition to a multitude of dishes. Why use anchovies? Well, because they are flavor enhancers. They lift up the dish and the ingredients used for it and interestingly - do not add a fish taste. So you could claim that anchovies are the natural third spice! Thais for example use fish sauce, Nam Pla, for precisely the same purpose!

Delicious Summery Salad Nicoise with Tuna, Tomatoes, Olives, and More

Writing down a recipe for a salad feels a tad silly. It is so easy and requires hardly any cooking - apart from boiling the eggs and opening the can of tuna.

The salad is so tasty it deserves a few photos from diffirent angles! 

First, distribute some greens on a plate, spinach or some other leaf vegetable. Then sliced tomatoes, few slices of boiled potatoes. Lots of kalamata olives and a handful of capers. Next, 250 gr of quality canned tuna - and I layered sliced boiled eggs in between the tuna chunks. Season and scatter chopped fresh parsley over the lot.

Finally, I drizzled a bit of vinaigrette over, which was made in the following way: 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon dijon, a few pieces of minced anchovies, and even a little bit of the anchovy oil, dash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and half a finely chopped shalott onion. Mixed thoroughly and drizzled over the salad. A cooled, good quality Chablis makes a perfect company to this dish!

A close up of the best salad in the World - Salad Nicoise! 

Bon appetit.