Niçoise Salad - Julia Child Inspired

I was intrigued by this recipe when I saw Alton Brown feature
Tuna on his show Good Eats.
I perused the internet until I stumbled upon this
Julia Child Inspired Niçoise Salad.
I also watched a few recipe videos on YouTube.

I came to the conclusion that tweaking the recipe is acceptable.

However using the finest quality ingredients would only enhance this recipe.

Purists would use

- Boston-lettuce leaves. I am using Romaine Hearts

- French Green Beans. I am using American Green Beans.
- Kalamata Olives. You can use Black Olives
- Italian Tuna Packed in Olive Oil. I am using 1 Can of Alaskan Pink Salmon. You could also substitute Vacuum Packed Tuna or Chunk Light Tuna packed in soybean oil.

- Shallots. You can used finely minced Garlic if you prefer

INGREDIENTS

2 Romaine Lettuce Hearts, washed and dried

1 large handful of Green Beans, trimmed and blanched

1-1/2 tablespoons minced Shallots

1/2 to 2/3 cup Basic Vinaigrette Click HERE  for recipe
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 or 3 ripe Ripe Tomatoes, cut into wedges (or 10 to 12 cherry tomatoes, halved)
2 or 3 Red Bliss Potatoes, peeled, sliced, and cooked

Two 3-ounce cans Chunk-Light Tuna, preferably oil-packed
or 1 14 oz can of Salmon

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved

1 freshly opened can of flat Anchovy Fillets (to be rolled later)

1/3 cup small Kalamata olives
2 to 3 tablespoons Capers
3 tablespoons minced fresh Parsley

DIRECTIONS
1. Drain Fish. Set Aside.
2. Remove Anchovies from can, reserving the oil. Roll each fish and set aside.

3. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large platter.

4. While the Potatoes and Beans are still slightly warm, toss them shallots, spoonfuls of vinaigrette, and salt and pepper.

5. Baste the tomatoes with a spoonful of vinaigrette.

6. Place the potatoes in the center of the platter and arrange a mound of beans at either end, with tomatoes and small mounds of tuna at strategic intervals.

7. Drizzle Olive Oil from Anchovies over Fish.

8. Place halves of hard-boiled eggs around the edge of the platter, sunny side up, and curl an anchovy on top of each.

9. Spoon more vinaigrette over everything

10. Scatter on olives, capers, and parsley, and serve.

Boil , Cut, Toss

Boil, Shock, Toss

Build

While the presentation of this on a platter or large serving dish is impressive, I would prefer to make individual salads in the future. It was rather messy picking through everything.

Also, I doubled the dressing.

This salad was DELICIOUS! Surprizingly everyone enjoyed it, even the pickiest of eaters in the house. I was shocked because normally the picky eater does not like olives and I was anxious that they would not like the anchovies and capers. I think they enjoyed all the different levels of flavors. Eating this salad was like going on a treasure hunt.