A Seattle-style version of the French favorite, Salade Nicoise.
This light, refreshing and nutritious salad was just what our bodies told us we needed after a couple of weeks worth of "holiday eating." Some of the submitter's twists on the classic Nicoise salad worked for me, but some did not. In my view this needed to be a composed, not tossed, salad and it needed to be served on a bed of greens - mesclun, butter lettuce or Romaine, for example. I used Romaine. The bottled champagne dressing would be okay in a pinch I guess, but with all these beautiful and quality ingredients I believe it deserved a homemade vinaigrette - I prepared a simple and classic Lemon-Dijon Vinaigrette. The boiled new potatoes (test with a fork, not a knife) are an important addition and the submitter has it right by letting them soak up some of the good salad dressing awhile before serving. The pickled green beans were too bold a deviation on the classic for me, so I stuck to fresh green beans which I tossed in with the potatoes the last five minutes of cooking, then removed them to an ice bath to stop the cooking process and to retain their vibrant green color. Now the salmon, Hubs and I agree, was an interesting and quite worthy variation from the classic tuna, one Hubs particularly enjoyed. Finally, except for the potatoes which were at room temperature, I served this chilled, not warm. All and all, this was a creative interpretation of the classic Salad Nicoise that allows for individual tinkering and spin.
Read More This light, refreshing and nutritious salad was just what our bodies told us we needed after a couple of weeks worth of "holiday eating." Some of the submitter's twists on the classic Nicoise salad worked for me, but some did not. In my view this needed to be a composed, not tossed, salad and it needed to be served on a bed of greens - mesclun, butter lettuce or Romaine, for example. I used Romaine. The bottled champagne dressing would be okay in a pinch I guess, but with all these beautiful and quality ingredients I believe it deserved a homemade vinaigrette - I prepared a simple and classic Lemon-Dijon Vinaigrette. The boiled new potatoes (test with a fork, not a knife) are an important addition and the submitter has it right by letting them soak up some of the good salad dressing awhile before serving. The pickled green beans were too bold a deviation on the classic for me, so I stuck to fresh green beans which I tossed in with the potatoes the last five minutes of cooking, then removed them to an ice bath to stop the cooking process and to retain their vibrant green color. Now the salmon, Hubs and I agree, was an interesting and quite worthy variation from the classic tuna, one Hubs particularly enjoyed. Finally, except for the potatoes which were at room temperature, I served this chilled, not warm. All and all, this was a creative interpretation of the classic Salad Nicoise that allows for individual tinkering and spin.
Our Changes: 6 Yellow Potatoes, quartered 2 frozen salmon fillets 1 small onion, diced Dash of salt and pepper 2 handfuls fresh green beans , cut in half 1 large tomato, diced 2 eggs 2 handfuls spinach Cut the potatoes into fourths. Spray a large skillet with PAM and cook the potatoes on medium heat. Add just enough water to not burn the pan. Place the eggs in a small sauce pan with enough water to cover the eggs. Boil at medium heat. After the eggs are started, add the salmon fillets and onions to the large pan. Add the green beans when close to the end. Boil eggs in a small pan. After about 20 minutes, run cold water over them and peel. Once the eggs are done, everything else should be about done. Dice the tomato and place the spinach, tomato, eggs, and potato-fish-green bean mixture on top. Enjoy!
I think it needed more greens, so I added some baby spinach, lettuce and cucumber. I also didn't have that dressing and actually just left it seasoned with the salt and pepper and that tasted really nice. Added some more tomatoes too. I know I used the wrong type of smoked salmon, but I just wanted to try it that way. It ended up looking nice.
It appears everyone changed this recipe and myself included. I don't think one can go wrong with nicoise salad. I used tuna instead of salmon. Also, never heard of champagne salad dressing so I mixed up my own dressing with olive oil, lemon, basil, and salt to taste. I used the eggs, tomatoes, green beans, and fingerling potatoes. The green beans I steamed as I don't like the jarred pickled kind. Additionally, I added baby cucumbers and kalmata olives. I chose this recipe, because I wanted something like a salad but didn't have lettuce. Some type of dressing is a must. I like how hearty this type of salad is. ty
Great name for this salad since smoked salmon was used! I love Salad Nicoise so I decided to try this version of Seattle's. I started mine off with thin sliced smoked salmon (all I could fine here in Maine) I rolled up the salmon sprinkling them with capers and put them on a plate with a drizzle of EOV and stuck it in the refrigerator while I prepared the rest, the rest of the recipe I followed, but used cherry tomatoes rather than chopped which can have more liquid than I like and I found the "baby" new potato's (about 1" in diameter). I did make my own salad dressing a creamy dill. Which I thought went well with the salmon. We really liked this dish as a nice variation of the Salad Nicoise.
