This is the perfect salad for summer. Crispy butter lettuce Nicoise Salad with seared ahi tuna and soft boiled Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs!
This post is sponsored by Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs.
I enjoy making so many things in the kitchen but salads are probably one of my favorite dishes to create. Of course there's the healthy aspect of making them but I love seeing the colors come together especially before the whole salad gets tossed and then passed around on plates.
Making a salad like this classic nicoise salad Cobb style, meaning having all of the ingredients on the serving platter but not mixed together, always makes for an impressive presentation. Your guests or family get to see what's actually in the salad rather than just being told what the salad is.
I've found that this is especially helpful when it comes to serving salads to my kids.
Eggs are vital for a good nicoise salad and I used Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs. As I mentioned before, I love my yolks on the softer side and it’s so satisfying to boil them for 6 or 7 minutes, slice them in half and watch that golden yolk slowly seep out.
They're also a great snack to have handy in the fridge, I made extras for the salad and my son ate them all with a little salt and pepper sprinkled on top of each half. Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs are always high quality organic eggs distributed from small family farms with a managing system that a single family can handle by themselves, which makes each egg even more personal for you.
Another essential for a traditional nicoise salad is French nicoise olives. They look a bit like Kalamata olives but are much smaller and cured in brine.
Another classic ingredient is hard boiled eggs although I prefer my eggs to be on the softer side. If you prefer the yolks a little more solid, I'd recommend boiling them for about 8 minutes instead of the 6 minutes I always do.
Other ingredients are usually tomatoes, baby potatoes, green beans and flaked tuna.
For this classic nicoise though I decided to sear some ahi tuna for a fresher addition to the salad. Once your salad is built and you're ready to serve it, place the vinaigrette on the side and you can either toss the whole salad or have friends add their own dressing.
Tips for making this easy nicoise salad!
- Keep everything small so you can pack more ingredients on the plate, like cherry tomatoes and baby potatoes.
- I like butter lettuce because the inner leaves are smaller and great for scooping up the other ingredients.
- Flaked tuna from a can or fresh ahi tuna seared in a pan. It really depends on what you prefer but the seared ahi does kick things up a notch and it's really easy to cook!
- Feel free to replace the green beans with asparagus or sliced zucchini. Nicoise salad was originally a meal for the less wealthy so it was and still is really adaptable.
- Fresh herbs make a big difference to the flavor. I used dill, tarragon and basil, you can never have too much!
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