Niçoise Salad

This classic colorful French Niçoise Salad is a great way to pack in veggies. It’s also the perfect dish to let kids get creative! You can use tuna, salmon, or even try salty sardines. There’s plenty of room to experiment as you play around with vegetables like crispy green beans, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. Learning how to hard boil eggs is also great kitchen skill, and there’s nothing more fun than peeling fresh-cooked eggs. Enjoy!

Makes:

4 servings

Hands-on time:

20 minutes

Start-to-eat time:

45 minutes

Ingredients

Dressing:
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¾ cup oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Salad:
2-3 eggs (plus water and ice)
4 ounces green beans, trimmed
4 ounces asparagus, bottoms trimmed
5 mini potatoes
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber, cut in ½-inch rounds
3 radishes, cut in rounds
½ cup olives
butter leaf lettuce, washed and patted dry
2 cups cooked salmon or tuna
Optional: artichoke hearts, cooked beans, cold cut meats, croutons

Kids kitchen skills:

making a dressing
chopping & dicing
boiling eggs

Tools:

small bowl & large bowl
measuring cups & spoons
knife & cutting board
medium pot with lid
slotted spoon & whisk
large platter (optional)

Step-by-step

Grown-up steps: The asparagus and green beans are done as soon as they turn bright green. Cook time can vary depending on the size of the veggies. If the eggs have melted the ice in the water bath, a bit more can be added to stop the cooking process for the string beans. Remember to pat your veggies dry before adding them to the finished salad.

In a small bowl whisk together dijon mustard, lemon juice, oil, honey, salt and pepper. Set aside.
*Bring a medium size pot of salted water to a boil. Carefully add the eggs. Cover and turn off the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to a bowl filled with water and ice, and let them cool.
Continue to heat the pot of water over medium heat and add the green beans, asparagus and potatoes.
Blanch the green beans and asparagus for 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the ice water, adding more ice and water if necessary. Let them cool, and transfer to paper towels to dry.
Cook potatoes until tender, strain, and let them cool, about 10 minutes, before peeling off the shells. Cut in half.
To plate, place the butter leafs on a large platter, peel and cut hard boiled eggs in half, and arrange the eggs on the platter with the cooked veggies, followed by the cold veggies, hand torn salmon (or tuna), and olives.
Whisk the dressing to combine and drizzle over the salad to serve.