Salad Nicoise was created in Nice, France, which is on the French Riviera. It is pronounced sa’lad ni’swaz
What exactly is a ‘Nicoise?’ People from the city of Nice are referred to as Nicoise people.
One of the earliest written versions of this recipe is in the 1887 cookbook “La Cuisine Niçoise” by author and chef Léo Lévi. I love that this is ‘Salad Nicoise,’ not a ‘Nicoise Salad’ because it sounds fancier. Yet the salad is just piles of stuff on lettuce.
While researching the origins of this recipe, I found out what I call a ‘platter salad’ because my Nana’s dish has an official name. For some reason, salad served on a large serving dish is also called a ‘composed salad.’ I am not a fan of that term because I toss my old veggies in the compost pile.
Hundreds of years ago, the port town of Nice had a constant flow of fishermen, and traders from exotic ports on the Mediterranean. They brought ingredients from the sea or the land and recipes that came from their homelands.
I can imagine the bustling in these ports when hungry sailors got off their ships. Seaside restaurants have filled plates on display to temp passing by, enticing them to stop. Servers often stand on the walkway and hawk their daily specials.
It is common in these open-air cafes to select the fish you want, and the chef cooks it on a big open grill for all to see and smell. You can watch every step of prep for your meal.
When I was getting ready to graduate high school, my parents asked me what I wanted as a gift. They were surprised when I requested a ticket to Spain. I didn’t stop in France during that trip, but I spent countless afternoons sitting at little waterfront eateries. Many recipes from my book Spice and Herb Explorer are from my travels. I loved every minute of my youth.
Traveling forced me out of my natural shyness, and my love for cooking often brought me into strangers’ kitchens to watch or to cook. During one of my trips to Cappadocia, Turkey, in the 1980s, I was feeling homesick, and I asked the cook if I could make a dish. The cook handed me an apron, and I made French toast for everyone. It became a new menu item. We topped it with honey because they didn’t have maple syrup. That day, I was the traveler with a recipe.
The Salad Nicoise
1 pound of potatoes, scrubbed, boiled and cubed
24 cherry tomatoes halved, or one tomato diced
2 cups fresh or 1 can green beans bite-sized
1 to 2 cans of tuna, drained, flaked
1/4 cup of black olives, sliced
2 eggs, hard-boiled, sliced
1 head of lettuce chopped
6 lettuce leaf bed
Dressing Nicoise
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry
Arranging your serving platter
Dice and boil your potatoes until tender
Add fresh green beans for the last 5 minutes or drain and rinse canned green beans
Line your platter with your leaf lettuce
Create separate piles with your ingredients
Pour on the dressing
Mix your dressing
*Anchovies are optional. Seriously, they add flavor; get over the name, or just send me your anchovies.
Mash your anchovies
Add your other ingredients
Whisk them up
Pour it on
Graze
Let’s talk about substitutions or additions
-eggs are hard to buy in your area, add cheese cubes
-chickpeas are a staple along the Mediterranean
-greens of any kind can be added for flavor
-canned beets add taste and color
-diced carrots or celery
-figs and dates
-nuts
I love researching food history because of all of the quirky stories that come from simple dishes. According to the Secret Food Tours website, “Former Nice mayor and author Jacques Médecin called for the salad to be served in a wooden bowl rubbed with garlic and excluded boiled vegetables. He wrote that the salad should be made mostly of tomatoes salted three times and moistened with olive oil, added hard-boiled eggs, and either anchovies or tuna, but never both.”
I am not a fan of Gordon Ramsey’s mean chef shows, but he said that ‘Salad Nicoise must be the finest summer salad of them all.”
Let me know if you think that this is the ‘finest summer salad.’
Be a creative eater.
Su*
