Nicoise Salad |Cooking With Amanda

The boys in my family are not always happy about having a salad for dinner. But my daughter and I could eat a salad almost every night. Nicoise salad is a compromise. While it's filled with plenty of colorful vegetables, it also includes potatoes, hard boiled eggs, and tuna. The ingredients are hardy enough to make it a filling meal.

This Nicoise salad is bright, colorful and pretty to look at. But pretty salads are not always the easiest to eat. Who wants to tear something beautiful up and toss it awkwardly on their plate? Not me, as I'd rather have a salad that's well dressed and easy to eat. Tossed salads are not always the prettiest, so I found a solution to my dilemma when serving this salad. I bring it to the table beautifully arranged and then I toss it in another big bowl tableside before serving.

Tossing the salad tableside allows the salad to be as fresh as possible. There is no soggy romaine lettuce because the dressing goes on right before it is eaten. Make sure to have a big salad bowl and utensils to make things as easy as possible.

If you are not eating the whole salad, you can reserve some on the side for lunch the next day. This way none will get wasted.

I used canned tuna in this salad for a quick meal, but grilled or seared tuna can gladly be used if you have the time to cook it. The steamed green beans and boiled potatoes are cooked in advance, so this meal is quite simple.

I love a good Italian or vinaigrette dressing on this salad. My favorites are citrus vinaigrette or copycat Olive Garden dressing. But feel free to serve any of your favorite dressings and include some rolls on the side.

If you have a night where you need a healthy quick meal for the family, this wins every time. Try changing the tuna to salmon or shrimp too. This meal will never be boring!

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Nicoise Salad Recipe

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Ingredients

3 cups romaine lettuce, or mixed romaine salad greens
1 pound small red potatoes, boiled and sliced
8 ounces green beans, steamed
2 small can tunas, drained (good quality)
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced (large)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup greek olives, pitted (optional)
2 baby cucumbers, chopped
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers
your favorite salad dressing, for serving

Directions

Place romaine greens on a large serving plate.
Arrange potatoes and green beans around the side of the platter.
Place the tuna in the middle and arrange eggs, tomatoes, olives and cucumbers also on the platter.
Top with chopped red peppers.
Toss the salad in a big bowl with dressing before serving.