I love this little french salad. The New York Times has a fun little twist on the Nicoise!

A Cool Niçoise Salad for Summer’s End

By MELISSA CLARK

What’s for Dinner? answers that universal question, offering recipes for simple, relatively quick dishes that use ingredients you can pick up on the way home.

 

During summer’s last gasp, only the most cooling of salads will do for dinner. This means using a base of mostly raw vegetables with high water content – tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, corn, zucchini – balanced with some kind of sustaining protein, a briny, salty element for tang, and a rich vinaigrette made with plenty of olive oil and garlic to bring it all together. Since local summer lettuces wilt as easily as I do in the heat, I tend to leave them out, saving them for more temperate times of the year.

      

I make versions of this salad all summer, mixing up the contents so I don’t get bored. Some favorites include: zucchini, feta, tomatoes, pine nuts; corn, avocado, bacon, tomato; cucumber, radishes, smoked salmon. And generally speaking, any leftover grilled item – animal or vegetable – can be tossed with tomatoes and some kind of dressing for the easiest of summer meals.

      

Here I’ve riffed on a classic French salade niçoise. I save the anchovy for the dressing, but anchovy admirers can add more for garnish — and anchovy avoiders can simply leave them out.

The only cooking is boiling the potatoes and haricots verts, which can be done together in the same pot. You can add a boiled egg if you like.

      

Dressing the vegetables while warm helps them absorb all the good flavors more deeply, making this a salad that manages to be intense and light at the same time. Which is just what you want in the steamiest time of the year.

      

Niçoise Salad With Basil and Anchovy-Lemon Vinaigrette

 

Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 anchovy fillets, chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt, more as needed

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/3 cup olive oil, more as needed

1/4 pound baby red potatoes

1/2 pound haricots verts or green beans

1 tablespoon finely chopped basil

8 radishes, cut into wedges, or 1 slender cucumber, peeled and sliced

2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges, or 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

2 (6 or 7-ounce) cans tuna packed in olive oil, drained

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced       

Freshly cracked black pepper, for serving

Flaky sea salt, for serving

Torn basil leaves, for serving

 

1. Make the vinaigrette: Using the flat side of a knife, smash garlic clove, anchovy fillets and salt into a paste. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in lemon juice, zest and mustard. Using a whisk, slowly pour in olive oil while stirring constantly. Adjust seasoning as needed.

      

2. Place potatoes in a medium pot and cover them with 2 or 3 inches of cold water. Salt the water and bring to a boil. When water comes to a boil, continue cooking potatoes until fork tender, 10 to 15 minutes more. Add haricots verts during the last 1 minute of cooking (if using regular green beans, add them during the last 2 to 3 minutes of cooking depending on how thin they are). Drain vegetables and let sit until cool enough to handle but still quite warm. Halve potatoes, transfer to a small bowl along with the haricots verts and dress everything to coat with some (but not all) of the vinaigrette. When completely cool, toss in chopped basil.

      

3. On a large platter or four individual plates, arrange potatoes and haricots verts, radishes or cucumbers, tomatoes and tuna. Scatter olives over the top and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette. Serve garnished with freshly ground black pepper, flaky sea salt and torn basil leaves.