I LOVE Niçoise Salads (Salads Niçoise?)—a brilliant combination of lettuce, tomatoes, olives, canned tuna, eggs, green beans, and potatoes. I love the big blocks of color and all the different textures.
It’s everything I want in a big dinner salad: variety, a hardy protein of some kind, hard boiled eggs cooked until the yolks are just cooked through, and a fancy schmancy French appellation.
I made this “Warm Salmon Salad Niçoise” version of a traditional Niçoise a couple weeks ago on a whim. I didn’t have olives on hand, hence the capers doing a pretty good stand-in job in the dressing.
The asparagus happened to look a lot better than the green beans at the market that week. And we ran out of our latest stash of canned tuna, but we did have a really beautiful salmon fillet in the fridge.
Though there are a few steps to this, they’re all really simple to do. With lots of herbs, warm, crispy seared salmon, and a tangy herbed lemon caper vinaigrette, you just can’t beat this for a healthy, satisfying dinner.
But now I’m descending into Rachel Ray speak. I’ll spare you all my pent-up “Yum-o’s,” “EVOO’s,” and references to my Gran’pa Emmanuel and how he never chopped basil. …You’re welcome.
Just make it!
Recipe Instructions
Start by making the dressing. Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl…
And mix it all together.
In a small pot, cover the eggs completely with cold water.
Bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, remove the pot from the heat. Allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for five minutes, and immediately transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water. Set aside.
Boil the potatoes until fork tender and sauté the asparagus in some oil with salt and pepper until tender but still a bit crisp.
Set the potatoes aside along with the asparagus.
While all that’s going, season your salmon with salt and pepper. In a cast iron pan or skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the salmon and get a good crispy texture on both sides. Lower the heat and continue to cook, covered, until just cooked through. Flaky, juicy, and positively oozing with Omega-fatty-goodness are the attributes we’re looking for here.
Peel your eggs and cut them in half. To assemble the salad, add a bed of lettuce to your plate. In big blocks of color, lay the tomato wedges…
…and the potatoes, asparagus, eggs, and salmon on top of the salad.
Drizzle your dressing over the top and serve!
This is a knife and fork kind of salad. Real civilized-like.
And here’s a photo of it on a different plate! I couldn’t decide which one looked better. We ate both of them anyway, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.
Even if you just make the dressing and toss it with some baby greens, you’ll be happy as a clam. As happy as a bivalve mollusk can be, anyway. Enjoy it everyone!
Warm Salmon Salad Nicoise
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (or champagne vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot or red onion
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 2 tablespoons basil (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons scallion (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon sugar (or honey)
- salt and pepper
For the salad:
- 4 eggs
- 1 pound small new potatoes (halved or quartered)
- 1 bunch thin asparagus spears or green beans
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 16 oz. salmon fillet (450g)
- Assorted lettuce (washed and dried)
- 3 medium tomatoes (cut into wedges)
Instructions
- Start by making the dressing. Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl and mix together.
- In a small pot, cover the eggs completely with cold water. Bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, remove the pot from the heat. Allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for five minutes, and immediately transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water. Set aside.
- Boil the potatoes until fork tender and sauté the asparagus in some oil with salt and pepper until tender but still a bit crisp.
- While all that’s going, season your salmon with salt and pepper. In a cast iron pan or skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the salmon and get a good sear on both sides. Lower the heat and continue to cook, covered, until just cooked through. Peel your eggs and cut them in half.
- To assemble, add a bed of lettuce to your plate. In big blocks of color, lay the tomato wedges, potatoes, asparagus, eggs, and salmon on top of the salad. Drizzle your dressing over the top and serve!
I’m going to make this Friday night. I have a lot of salmon in my freezer. My husband fishes in Lake Michigan for King Salmon. I love the asparagus too! Thanks! Glad I found you on Pinterist! I think this is the second recipe I’m making from your site. : )
Hi Kaye, I absolutely love this recipe. Your comment reminded me to ask Sarah to make it again.
The hell is a “burled egg”?
Hey Betsy, it was my attempt at humor––apparently ill-advised. It’s kind of an inside joke i guess! I meant “boiled egg.” I’ll change it in the recipe to make it clearer.
Your salad looks great. I really like your recipes as well as the pictures of them !! Asian food tastes so good !
However, as a french girl born in Nice, I need to tell you that the ingredients you put in your Salad Niçoise are not the good ones !
The real recipe of the Salade Niçoise is : Tomatoes, peppers, onions, spring onions, cucumbers, sometime celery and radishes, hard boiled eggs, canned tuna, anchovy (if you like it), black Niçoise olives, and only olive oil and basil leaves for the sauce ! Never included: cooked vegetable, lettuce salad and potatoes or rice :)
You should try it ! It tastes extremely good, particularly in summer with white or Rosé wine.
And if you put all these ingredients in a round bread, you obtain the famous Niçois sandwich; the Pan Bagnat !!
Hey Madison, thanks for the lesson! I’d love to try a traditional salad Niçoise. All i need is money and a plane ticket, and i’m there!
Your salad looks amazing…that is definitely something I would make! I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for linking it up with us at #FoodieFridays! Pinning right now!
This looks so good. My family loves learning new ways to eat salmon. Thanks for stopping by the Snickerdoodle Sunday and sharing.
Absolutely stunning and mouth-watering. I’m eager to pin this. Thanks for adding your recipe at Foodie Friday/Rattlebridge!
Hi Rattlebridge Farm,
Thanks for stopping by! Looking forward to future Foodie Fridays!
This looks so amazing. Love the colors!
This looks absolutely delicious! I could have this whole plate right now and I just had dinner!
haha whoo! the italians eat their salad after dinner, so you’re good.
Oooh this looks so lovely!!!!! I’m headed to Paris in about a week (where I once had the first salad nicoise of my life!) so…how appropriate :) This actually looks way yummier than the one I had (can’t say I’m such a fan of smoked fish in my salad…I want that stuff on a bagel!) and SO BEAUTIFUL! I just want this forked in my mouth in a never-ending stream, please and thank you.
Also “As happy as a bivalve mollusk can be, anyway.” <– lollll.
Oh my goodness Erika, words cannot express the full extent of my jealousy that you’re going to Paris. It’s going to be amazing. But if nothing else, hearing that I beat out some unknown Parisian in the field of salad-battle, is pretty awesome.