Salad Nicoise is a French classic. It’s a simple, assembled salad. It looks good on a plate and tastes delicious. Usually, it uses both potatoes and tuna. Tuna has issues with high levels of heavy metals and I generally try to avoid potatoes because of the starch. Think of this as a healthy upgrade to the traditional Salad Nicoise.
Jump to RecipeGreat Salmon Nicoise
To start your Salmon Nicoise, you’ll want to make some green beans. I’ll often make a couple of pounds of green beans and eat them throughout the week. I’ve played with a bunch of different varieties, but I think this recipe has the highest simplicity to tastiness ratio.
You just put some fat in a pan and add the green beans. Cook for about 15 minutes until they start to soften. Done and delicious.
Next, it’s time for the “potatoes.” As I said, I don’t eat a lot of potatoes. I love them, but there are much healthier options. Potatoes are great for Feast Days and preparation for long workouts, but I don’t usually eat them in a normal dinner.
So I went with radishes. They’re almost completely fiber and water, so a really good alternative to baby potatoes. They also give the Salmon Nicoise a nice little bite.
Just cut some radishes in half and give them a quick, light fry in a pan.
It takes about five minutes. If you have a couple of good pans, you can cut and fry them in the amount of time it takes the green beans to cook.
With all the cooking done, you just need to put the Salmon Nicoise together.
I put down a very light bed of spinach. But you could also use chopped romaine or butter lettuce. It just helps to catch the extra dressing. Then I added the radishes and the beans, topped it with fresh avocado and grape tomatoes, and added a can of good, wild salmon. Finally, I topped it with a couple of anchovies, some capers, and a great dressing.
When I do it again, I would be certain to add some olives and probably a hard-boiled egg.
But even without them, it was incredible.
A Couple Notes
- This might be the only time I’ll ever say this, but use very few greens. This is not a green salad. It’s a composed salad. Serve it on a light bed of greens, but treat them more like a plate protector. They’re not the main ingredient.
- Use wild-caught canned salmon. I tried it with a nice piece of seared salmon. It was a waste. You lose all the complexity and the dressing softened the crispy crust. If you want to upgrade your salmon, consider raw, sushi-grade salmon.
- Don’t be lazy about the dressing. It’s only a couple of ingredients, but they’re all important. Get out a whisk or a fork, put all of the ingredients into a bowl, and mix them together. If you don’t feel like whisking, you can absolutely use a blender. I would just rather whisk a bit and not have to clean a blender.
- This salad is way better cold. So try to give your green beans and radishes enough time to cool. I like to make large batches on weekends and make this one of my mid-week meals.
This salad is also very, very flexible. If you hate an ingredient, leave it out. Add stuff you think would be good. But give it a shot. It’s delicious. Usually, this salad is served family-style on one big platter. Then everybody can just pick at it with their own forks or eat it with their fingers.
Salmon Nicoise Salad
Ingredients
Green Beans
- 2 pounds green beans stems removed
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
Radishes
- 2 pounds radishes halved, stems and leaves removed
- 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
Dressing
- 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice from one lemon
- 1 Tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 2 cloves garlic minced
Salmon Nicoise Salad
- 1 handful spinach
- 2 5-ounce cans wild-caught salmon
- 1 pound green beans cooked
- 1 pound radishes cooked
- 1 cup grape tomatoes
- 1/4 cup kalamata olives
- 1 avocado sliced
- 2 Tablespoons capers
- sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
Green Beans
- Put the green beans, oil, and garlic into a pan. Cover with a lid and cook on medium for about 15 minutes until the beans start to soften. Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Radishes
- Put the radishes, oil, and garlic into a pan. Cook on medium for 5-10 minutes until the radishes are soft and starting to brown. Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Dressing
- Put all the dressing ingredients into a bowl. Whisk together until you create a smooth emulsion.
Salmon Nicoise Salad
- Lay the spinach on a plate in a thin layer.
- Neatly arrange the salmon, beans, radishes, tomatoes, olives, and avocado on top of the spinach.
- Break the anchovies into pieces and scatter on top of the rest of the ingredients. Then sprinkle the capers on top.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad. Top with sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste.