salmon salad nicoise

5 from 1 vote

Salmon nicoise makes a fantastic lunch or light dinner. It's perfect when the late summer and fall market produce is at it's peak but you can make it all year around.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time40 mins

Course: Main

Cuisine: French

Servings:

Calories: 782kcal

Author: romain | glebekitchen

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets - skinless
10 small new potatoes
A good handful of green beans
8-10 cherry or mixed small tomatoes - halved
a few black olives - nicoise or otherwise
3 hardboiled eggs - sliced in half lengthwise
2-3 Tbsp simple french vinaigrette - recipe link below

Instructions

Perfect hardboiled eggs

Fill a saucepan with enough cold water to cover the eggs by a full inch.
Bring to a boil over medium high heat. When the water boils remove the pot from the heat, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Set a timer.
After 10 minutes, remove the eggs from the hot water and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking.
Peel the eggs.

Make the salmon salad nicoise

Boil the new potatoes in salted water until done. Once done, drain and set aside.
Bring water in the same pot to boil, add salt and beans. Blanch the beans. You want them just barely done. Drain the beans into a colander and run cold water over them to chill. This stops the cooking and keeps the colour and texture intact.
Gently pan fry the salmon in a bit of butter over medium-low heat (no hotter). Watch the sides of the fish. If you want translucent, leave a good bit of translucent in the middle of the edge of the fish. If you want flaky, cook until it's just evenly coloured.
Combine the beans and potatoes, add salt to taste and toss with simple french vinaigrette. Be gentle - you don't want to smash the potatoes.
To plate, divide the bean/potato mixture into two bowls, add the tomatoes, olives and egg. Top with the salmon.
Garnish with a bit of finely minced chives if you like.

Notes

The hardboiled egg technique is from America's Test Kitchen back in the early days. I still haven't found a better or more reliable way to get perfect hardboiled eggs.

The French vinaigrette recipe can be found here.

Nutrition