Potato Salad Niçoise

If you are an avid reader of my newsletter , I promised to deliver a tasty french salad in convenient casserole form this week. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” So instead of a casserole, I present to you Potato Salad Niçoise.

I made a few attempts trying to develop some sort of casserole that incorporated all the flavors of a Niçoise salad, but I wasn’t really pleased with any of them. In the end, I just decided to keep things simple and use a base of potatoes to showcase what I was going for. The result was an intensely flavorful potato salad that can be served as a side or work as a protein-packed meal all by itself.

I haven’t given up on my casserole idea, but this potato salad is going to be hard to beat.

A Niçoise salad can be composed of any seasonal vegetables, but it usually consists of tomatoes and green beans served with tuna, black olives, capers, and hardboiled eggs. Personally, I just can’t seem to get enough of this combination of flavors.

Start by covering about two pounds of cubed red potatoes with water. Add a good pinch of salt and boil, uncovered, for about 20 minutes until they are fork tender.

If you don’t have and hardboiled eggs on hand, you’ll also need to prepare a couple of those. My method: prick a little hole in the bottom of the shell with a pin and cover the eggs with an inch of water. Bring to a boil. After one minute, remove the pot from the heat and cover. Let the pot sit untouched for nine minutes, then drain the eggs, chill them in ice water, and peel.

While the potatoes are boiling, you can make the dressing. Combine some olive oil, champagne vinegar, dijon mustard, lemon juice, shallot, fresh parsley, tarragon, salt, and pepper in a jar, cover, and shake well until emulsified. You can also whisk everything together in a bowl, I just prefer this method because you can easily adjust the amount of dressing as desired.

Once the potatoes are done, drain them and transfer to a mixing bowl. Gently toss the still warm potatoes with about half of the dressing. Place them in the fridge to cool.

Rinse out your pot and fill it back up with a few cups of water and add another pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, and add half a pound of trimmed green beans. Boil for about 5 minutes until the beans are tender, but still a little crisp. Drain them and immediately transfer to an ice bath until cool.

Time to bring it all together: combine the potatoes, drained green beans, chopped hard boiled eggs, with a drained can of tuna, black olives,capers, and halved cherry tomatoes. Add the remaining dressing, some salt and pepper to taste, and gently toss.

Serve and enjoy!

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Potato Salad Niçoise

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds red potatoes scrubbed and cut into chunks
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
• 1 6 oz. can albacore tuna, drained
• 1/2 pound green beans ends trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 hard boiled eggs chopped
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives halved
• 2 tablespoons capers

For the Dressing

• 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

For the Dressing

• Combine all the ingredients in a glass jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well until emulsified. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the Salad

• Place the potatoes in a large pot and add enough water to cover. Add a large pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
• Drain the potatoes and transfer to a mixing bowl. Pour in about half of the dressing and gently toss. Cover and refrigerate.
• Refill the pot with water and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then add the green beans. Simmer for 5 minutes, until the beans are tender yet crisp. Drain and chill in ice water.
• Bring your bowl of potatoes back out of the fridge. Add the drained green beans, tomatoes, olives, and hardboiled eggs. Combine with the remaining dressing, adding more salt and pepper to taste.
• Enjoy!

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