Salad for dinner can leave you hungry, but this recipe does far from that. I loved the roasted vegetables mixed in with tender greens, hard boiled egg, and a bit of tuna. You can change this around to your liking, mixing and matching what vegetables you prefer, using steamed salmon instead of canned tuna, whatever strikes your fancy!
Nicoise Salad
Adapted from Rebar
Photo copyright naotakem
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, minced
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp white wine vinegar>
2 tsp grainy Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cracked pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salad:
1 1/2 lb new potatoes
1/2 lb asparagus (or you could use lightly steamed green/yellow beans)
2 roasted red peppers or 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, sliced
4 hard cooked eggs
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup nicoise olives (optional-I omitted them)
2 cans tuna, drained
2 tbsp each fresh minced chives and dill
Assorted salad greens
Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
Cut about 1 inch off the ends of the asparagus and discard. Using a vegetable peeler, lightly give the last 4 inches or so of each stalk a peel. In a bowl, toss the asparagus spears with a little drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet.
Cut the red peppers in half, then core and seed them. Leave in large pieces. Toss with a little oil and transfer to a baking sheet, skin side up. You could put them on the same sheet as the asparagus, just make sure there’s enough room to move things around.
Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet.
Put the baking sheets in the oven and roast all the vegetables, checking and moving them around as need be. The asparagus will finish first (about 10 minutes, maybe less depending on thickness-more intensive directions for roasted asparagus here, but omit the balsamic vinegar). Keep an eye on the asparagus, as they burn easily. You want to remove them when they are tender. The red peppers will need a little more time, as the skins start to blacken and blister. (about 15 minutes) The potatoes will take the longest, and it’s a good idea to be moving them around, making sure that they get evenly browned. They would take about 20 minutes, depending on how small you have cut them.
While the veggies are roasting, you can get a pot of water on and the eggs boiled. When they are finished, pour some cold water over the eggs to cool them down for the salad assembly. (you can also make these ahead if need be)
Allow the veggies to cool once you have removed them from the oven. Peel the blistered skin off the red peppers and slice them up.
Arrange some salad greens on each plate, then alongside portion out some of the roasted potatoes, a few spears of asparagus, a sliced hard cooked egg, some slices of roasted red pepper, and a bit of drained tuna. Sprinkle with dill and chives, then drizzle with the salad dressing.
Dressing:
Whisk together all the salad dressing ingredients except the oil. Add the oil in a small drizzle, whisking all the while to emulsify. I like to store my dressings in jam jars, because that way they are easy to shake up and use again after. This makes a good portion of dressing, but it is good on all kinds of salads.