Nicoise Salad — The Fancy Restaurant Version You Make at Home

August was one week away and I felt it the way you feel weather changing — a shift in atmospheric pressure, something upcoming and significant making itself known at the edges of ordinary days. School would start in three weeks. High school would start. I was going to Scotlandville Magnet and I had known it for months and it still felt enormous and new each time I really sat with it.

Mama took me school shopping that Saturday — clothes, supplies, a new backpack. We went to the mall and ate lunch at the food court and I let her pick out two things I would not have picked myself, which is our tradition: she gets two items that are her vision of me and I wear them without complaint. One was a coral-colored blouse that I would never have chosen and that I ended up loving. The other was a pair of earrings that I still have.

I had been reading ahead in my Honors Biology textbook, which I had ordered used from an online seller. The cellular respiration chapter was immediately interesting to me — the way energy moves through biological systems, the efficiency of it, the elegance. I read the chapter twice and made notes in the margins. Mama found me reading it at ten PM and told me I needed to sleep. I told her it was interesting. She said she knew and that was the whole problem.

The evening before my school shopping trip I had made cold cucumber soup — a recipe from the cookbook I got at the library, a chilled version with Greek yogurt and dill and lemon. Light and cool and exactly right for a July evening when cooking anything warm felt like a personal offense against the body. Mama had two bowls. Daddy tasted it and said, "This is the kind of thing you order at a fancy restaurant." I said the fancy restaurant version probably costs fourteen dollars. He said mine was better and free. I said, "That's the point."

Three more weeks. I made lists of what I needed to accomplish before school started. I revised the lists. I made new lists. This is how I manage anticipation. It works for me and I make no apologies for it.

That cold cucumber soup was exactly right for the night I made it, but when I think about what I’d put alongside a story like that one — the anticipation, the new backpack, Daddy saying “fancy restaurant” like it was the highest compliment — this Nicoise Salad is it. It has that same quality: composed, a little elegant, completely achievable at home, and cool enough that the stove barely enters the picture. The kind of thing that proves the point without making a fuss about it.

Nicoise Salad

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 8 oz small Yukon Gold potatoes, halved
• 6 oz fresh green beans, trimmed
• 4 large eggs
• 2 (5 oz) cans oil-packed tuna, drained
• 6 cups butter lettuce or mixed greens
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup Nicoise or Kalamata olives
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 anchovy fillets (optional)
• For the vinaigrette:
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Cook the potatoes. Place halved potatoes in a small saucepan, cover with cold salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook 10–12 minutes until just tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and let cool to room temperature.
2. Blanch the green beans. Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans and cook 3–4 minutes until crisp-tender and bright green. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Drain and pat dry.
3. Hard-boil the eggs. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water by one inch. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Transfer to ice water, peel, and halve lengthwise.
4. Make the vinaigrette. Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl until emulsified. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Compose the salad. Arrange greens on a large platter or in individual bowls. Group the potatoes, green beans, eggs, tuna, cherry tomatoes, olives, and red onion in separate sections over the greens. Lay anchovy fillets over the top if using.
6. Dress and serve. Drizzle the vinaigrette evenly over the entire salad just before serving. Serve immediately at room temperature or slightly chilled.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 29g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 19g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 640mg