Seared Tuna Salad (Nicoise Salad)
This is a French composed salad featuring seared tuna and a variety of other tasty bits like hard boiled egg, haricots vert (thin green beans), steamed fingerling potatoes, tomatoes and olives. The fun part is using your creativity to change it up to include your favorites! | www.lakesidetable.com
Ingredients
Vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste optional
Salad
- 6 cups lettuce washed and torn into bite size pieces
- 2 8 oz tuna steaks
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 eggs hard boiled and sliced
- 12 small fingerling potatoes steamed to fork tender
- 16 cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 4-6 ounces haricot vert (thin green beans) trimmed and steamed
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives
Instructions
Vinaigrette
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Whisk together all the ingredients except for the olive oil in a bowl. Continue whisking while slowly drizzling olive oil to create an emulsion.
Salad
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Steam the potatoes and haricot vert until fork tender and boil the eggs. Carefully lower eggs into boiling water and boil for 7-10 minutes. Shock the eggs, potatoes and beans in ice water to stop them from cooking. Peal the eggs and slice.
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Divide lettuce between 4 plates.
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Place each group of vegetables into the vinaigrette individually. Take each one out, one at a time, and artfully arrange 1/4 of each group on each plate of lettuce.
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Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Cut the steaks in half. Add olive oil and sear tuna steaks for 3 minutes on each side when oil is hot.
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Place seared tuna in the middle of each salad along with slices of hard boiled egg. Drizzle remaining vinaigrette (if any) over salad.
Recipe Notes
Depending on the weight of your green beans, you're looking for a small bundle for each salad.
Variations:
This is a colorful and snappy salad! Have fun including only your favorite additions and leave out any that you're not crazy about. Here's a few more ideas I like to put in my salad:
- capers
- roasted red peppers
- roasted garlic
- green olives
- grilled artichokes
- palm hearts
- fava beans