How To Make A Great Salad Nicoise

By: Kerris Samson

The Salad Nicoise is more commonly called a Nicoise Salad and is pronounced "Ni-suaz". This particular salad originally comes from a region in the South of France called Nice and involves a number of different raw ingredients the details of which will provided for you later on in this article. Most authentic Salad Nicoise's use only raw ingredients there are some restaurants who make this salad and will include rice, pasta, potatoes, cheese and cooked vegetables in theirs.

What is really great about this salad recipe over some of the others you see is just how simple and easy it is to prepare and just how great it looks once all the ingredients have been combined together. The Nicoise Salad is full of flavor, color and texture that you do not always see in a salad and this is simply because of the variety of ingredients that are used to make it. Below we provide you with a list of the ingredients you will need to make this great tasting salad. Plus we also provide step by step instructions on how to prepare it.

The ingredients you will need in order to make a Salad Nicoise to serve four people are as follows:- 1. 10 large and ripe tomatoes 2. 1 clove of garlic 3. 1 large cucumber 4. 1 green and one red pepper 5. 6 spring onions 6. 12 anchovy fillets which are in olive oil 7. 125g of black olives 8. 4 eggs that have been hard boiled 9. 90ml of olive oil (extra virgin is best) 10. 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar 11. Juice of one lemon 12. Assorted salad leaves (cos, rocket etc) plus a small amount of fresh Basil. Now let us go through the steps you will need to take in order to make your Salad Nicoise.

Step 1 - You should take the tomatoes and cut them into six pieces each and then put this on a dish before sprinkling with a little salt. Doing this will help to remove some of the excess juices in the tomatoes which could cause the salad to become soggy and limp. Whilst you are preparing the tomatoes it is good idea to also get the eggs ready. In order to get good hard boiled eggs you should aim to leave them in the boiling water for around 5 minutes.

Step 2 - You need to take the cucumber and cut it along the length and then scoop out as many of the seeds as you can with a spoon. Now you next need to cut the cucumber, which has not been peeled into slices, but you should not make them to thin. After slicing up the cucumber, you next need to then finely slice both the peppers along with the spring onions.

Step 3 - The next step is to take the garlic clove and cut this in half before rubbing it around the insides of the bowl or bowls you are using to present the salad in. If you can use wooden bowls rather than metal, plastic or china as it retains the flavor of the garlic far better.

Step 4 - Now you have prepared the bowl for serving the salad in you can start to place the ingredients into it. Firstly get the salad leaves which you have chosen (and which have been washed thoroughly) and lay these in the base of the bowl or bowls. Now on top of these you layer the tomatoes which have been previously cut in to sixths and allowed to drain. Then on top of these you place the hard boiled eggs which need to be cut into quarters. After the eggs you then add the sliced peppers, spring onions and cucumber before finally laying on top the anchovy fillets. Then finally you scatter the olives over the top.

Step 5 - The final thing you need to do before you can serve the Salad Nicoise to family or guests is make the dressing. In order to do this you take the lemon juice, olive oil and red wine vinegar and place in a bowl or jar before adding a small amount of freshly ground black pepper and salt to season. Once all the ingredients are together mix until well combined and then very slowly drizzle it over the salad. Finally take the fresh basil leaves and tear them up into pieces and sprinkle over the top of the salad. It really is that simple to make a great tasting Nicoise Salad.

Niche Article Directory: http://www.thatsmyniche.com

Here at SaladFacts.com we provide information and advice on everything to do with salads. However, if you would like to find out more about making great dressings for your salad ingredients click on the link provided.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated