Nicoise salads, originating in Nice, are traditionally composed of tuna, hardboiled eggs, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, Nicoise olives, and anchovies, all dressed in a vinaigrette. Here, I replace the tuna and anchovies with cannelinni beans, and use giant green olives stuffed with garlic (mo garlic, mo betta). I also left out the potatoes in preference for a bed of crunchy romaine, artichokes, and some sliced cukes.
Funny story. So for this recipe, I saw these purple beans at the farmer’s market, and I got so. excited. I bought them, thinking how awesome they would be in this jazzy new take on a Nicoise salad.
And then, when I boiled them in water for a few minutes, they turned green. Womp. Maybe they taste different, I thought. Crunch. Nope, tastes just like a green bean. Another womp. But they were fun while they lasted! Next time I’ll make a salad with some raw purple beans.
I made a vinaigrette out of olive oil, red wine vinegar, a dollop of dijon and these herbes de provence that my mom picked me up in…you guessed it- Provence! Look at that massive bag. It reminds me to better start thinking of some more herbes de provence recipes stat!
Per my usual style, I made 3 of these ginormous salads at once to take for lunches during the work week.
- 1.5 cups green beans, trimmed halved
- 2 romaine hearts, chopped
- 3/4 of an English cucumber, chopped
- 3/4 can artichoke hearts in water
- 1-2 tomatoes (or a bell pepper)
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- red onion, minced
- 15 olives, chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 4-5 tbsp red wine vinegar, to taste
- 1/2 tsp herbes de provence
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Fill a medium saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Add the green beans and boil for 3 minutes, or until they are bright green. Drain.
- Arrange the next 7 ingredients into three bowls.
- Mix the oil, vinegar, herbes, and mustard to make the vinaigrette.
- Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salads, and add salt and pepper to taste.
