Niçoise Salad

1 h 5 min 4 servings Medium

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An elegant Niçoise salad featuring fresh anchovies, quail eggs, tomatoes, artichokes, Mediterranean vegetables, Niçoise olives and crisp toasted bread, served with a bright lemon and olive oil vinaigrette.

Niçoise salad is one of the most emblematic dishes of the French Riviera. An early version published in the magazine Pot-au-feu in 1903 described the tomato as the central ingredient of the salad. Hard-boiled eggs, now common in Mediterranean versions of the dish, appear to have been added later.

There are countless interpretations of this Riviera classic. This refined version combines fresh vegetables, anchovies, quail eggs, artichokes, Niçoise olives and toasted bread with a fresh lemon and olive oil vinaigrette.

Ingredients

4 quail eggs

4 fresh anchovies Cleaned and deboned

3 lemons For preparation

8 small tomatoes, approximately 50 g each

8 large basil leaves

18 confit tomato petals

1 large cucumber

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

2 cloves of garlic

1 sprig of fresh thyme

4 spring onions

4 small fresh local artichokes

2 medium purple artichokes

2 celery hearts

2 fennel bulbs

2 zucchini flowers

2 baby gem lettuces

1 long head of Treviso radicchio

12 small radishes

200 g mesclun

1 thin French baguette (ficelle)

200 g shelled baby broad beans

100 g black Niçoise olives

200 ml extra-virgin olive oil

2 lemons

salt

black pepper

Preparation

Prepare the quail eggs and anchovies

10 min

Cook the quail eggs in salted boiling water for 4 minutes. Cool them immediately, peel them and cut them in half. Rinse the anchovies, remove the heads and central bones, then place the fillets in a dish. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and set aside.

Prepare the tomatoes and cucumber

10 min

Wash the tomatoes and cut off their tops horizontally, leaving the stalks attached. Remove the seeds and season lightly with salt. Place a confit tomato petal and a basil leaf inside each tomato. Finely grate the remaining tomato flesh and reserve it for the toasts. Wash the cucumber, remove the seeds and cut it into batons approximately 1 × 8 cm.

Roast and marinate the peppers

15 min

Slowly roast the green, red and yellow peppers until tender. Remove their skins and seeds, then cut the flesh into rectangles approximately 8 × 3 cm. Marinate the peppers in olive oil with one crushed garlic clove, thyme, salt and pepper.

Prepare the artichokes

15 min

Trim all the artichokes and keep them in lemon water to prevent discoloration. Cook the four small artichokes in salted water with lemon. Drain them, then set them aside in olive oil mixed with lemon juice. Finely slice the purple artichokes and dress them immediately with lemon juice.

Prepare the remaining vegetables

10 min

Trim and clean the spring onions. Finely slice two and quarter the remaining two. Halve the celery hearts, wash and drain them. Thinly slice the fennel bulbs, keeping the small centres whole. Cut each zucchini flower into four petals. Wash and dry the baby gem lettuces, then cut them lengthwise in half. Wash the Treviso radicchio and cut the leaves into pieces approximately 10 cm long. Clean the radishes while keeping their leaves attached. Wash and dry the mesclun.

Make the tomato toasts

10 min

Cut the thin baguette into four pieces, then split each piece lengthwise. Rub the bread with the remaining garlic clove, brush it lightly with olive oil and toast until crisp. Season the reserved grated tomato with salt and pepper. Spread it over the toasted bread and finish with the finely sliced spring onions.

Prepare the vinaigrette

5 min

Whisk together 150 ml of olive oil and the juice of two lemons. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Assemble and serve

4 min

Place half a baby gem lettuce and a portion of mesclun on each plate. Arrange the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, artichokes, fennel, celery, radishes, broad beans, olives, zucchini flowers, Treviso radicchio, quail eggs and anchovies attractively, adding height and volume. Place one tomato toast on each side of the plate. Serve the lemon vinaigrette separately.