Must fight the late summer malaise!

I ask myself every day: 'what am I going to do with this all these tomatoes and green beans'? The  answer last week was one my favorite salads ever: a Salade Niçoise. It took just a few tweaks to the original recipe to create something extraordinary with our super-fresh produce.

Traditionally, a salad in the style of Nice has canned tuna, anchovies, hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, tomatoes, olives, and green beans. I omitted the olives and anchovies, but stayed true on other ingredients. Brian had picked up some specialty canned tuna that in retrospect took this salad over the top. I highly recommend finding some good tuna because it's really the showcase piece, and not mixed into a casserole or tuna salad. We found a can of Ortiz Bonito del Norte at Eugene's Marche Provisions market a while ago and, on a whim, decided to crack it open for this salad. I cannot sufficiently describe how succulent this fish is; just like no tuna I've ever eaten. It is definitely worth the extra price tag.

In sum, the planets aligned and we happened to have everything we needed for a filling and healthy Sunday lunch: new potatoes, green beans, heirloom cherry tomatoes, as well as eggs and the ingredients needed for the dressing, a recipe for Julia Child's "basic vinaigrette".

The only problem, per se, with using CSA ingredients is the inaccuracy of measurement since we have no kitchen scale and have no real idea of how many pounds of anything we have. I can only suppose or guesstimate as to the amounts, so please forgive my being vague at times.

Recipe for Salad Niçoise

Ingredients

For the salad base, per person

• 1 hard-boiled egg, quartered
• 1/2 cup green beans, boiled for 3 minutes and plunged into ice bath
• 1/2 cup diced potatoes, boiled until tender, then laid on sheet pan to cool
• 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 can tuna packed in olive oil, drained
• 2 cups more or less (a few handfuls) of mixed greens 

For the salad dressing

• 1/2 Tbsp finely minced shallot or scallion
• 1/2 Tbsp Dijon-type mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 Tbsp wine vinegar (or, champagne vinegar as we used)
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup excellent olive oil, or other fine, fresh oil
• Freshly ground pepper

Steps

1. Prepare the salad dressing, per the steps listed here. 
2. Toss the salad greens in a large bowl with a few spoonfuls of dressing until evenly coated (I use my hands for this step).
3. Toss the tomatoes with a scant spoonful of dressing
4. Toss green beans with a scant spoonful of dressing.
5. Assemble in a large plate or bowl: (1) salad greens, (2) hard boiled eggs in the four corners, (3) tomatoes together on one side, green beans on one side, and potatoes on another, (4) tuna broken apart slightly in the center. 
6. NOTE: If you want, Niçoise olives may be served as well as 2-4 anchovy fillets. Alternately, this salad may be eaten without the salad greens as a light lunch.