Salade Niçoise: The Proper Version

Salade Niçoise: The Proper Version

The debate about what belongs in a salade niçoise has been running since before anyone now alive was born and shows no sign of resolution. The citizens of Nice insist on raw vegetables only — no cooked potatoes, no blanched beans, nothing from heat. The rest of France ignores them. We are going to ignore them too, because the version with new potatoes and lightly cooked green beans is the more satisfying dish, and that is the only criterion that matters here.

What is not debatable is the tuna. A niçoise built on brine-packed tuna — pale, soft, and flavourless — is a lesser thing than it could be. The same salad made with good oil-packed tuna, firm and saturated with the olive oil it has been sitting in, is a genuinely different eating experience. The tuna is not a topping. It is the centrepiece.

The tuna

For this recipe, use tuna in good olive oil. Berthe's Atlantic tuna — from one of Portugal's oldest canneries, operating since 1880 on the Atlantic coast — has the texture and depth this dish deserves. Firm enough to hold as pieces rather than collapsing into flakes, and rich from the oil it has been packed in. The oil from the tin does not get discarded. It goes into the dressing.

The full tuna collection is here.

The anchovies

A proper niçoise includes anchovies alongside the tuna — not as seasoning dissolved into the background, but as an ingredient in their own right, laid across the plate. They bring the salinity and intensity that keeps the whole dish in balance. Use two or three fillets per person. The [anchovy collection] has what you need.

The components (serves two)

• 200g small new potatoes, boiled until just tender, halved while still warm
• 100g fine green beans, blanched for two minutes and refreshed immediately in cold water
• A large handful of good tomatoes — cherry or vine, halved
• 2 eggs, soft-boiled for seven minutes, peeled and halved
• A generous handful of Niçoise or Kalamata olives
• 1 tin of good tuna in olive oil, broken into pieces
• 4–6 anchovy fillets
• 1 tablespoon of small capers

Dress the warm potatoes immediately after halving. They absorb vinaigrette properly at this stage in a way that cold potatoes will not.

The dressing

One teaspoon of Dijon mustard in a small bowl. One tablespoon of red wine vinegar. Whisk together, then slowly add four tablespoons of good olive oil — include the oil from the tuna tin — whisking until emulsified. Season well with salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust.

Assembly

A niçoise is arranged, not tossed. Each element should be visible and distinct on the plate — this is not a dressed salad, it is a composed one. Lay the potatoes as a base, add the green beans and tomatoes, then place the tuna in pieces across the top. Arrange the egg halves, the olives, and the anchovy fillets. Scatter the capers last. Spoon the dressing over everything just before serving.

A few leaves of flat-leaf parsley or basil finish it. Nothing else is needed.

On the egg

Seven minutes in boiling water, transferred immediately into cold. The white should be fully set and the yolk still slightly jammy at the centre. A hard-boiled egg in a niçoise is a small but avoidable disappointment.

The tin makes the salad

Every component here is simple, which means every component is visible. There is no sauce to hide behind, no complexity to compensate for a mediocre ingredient. Good tomatoes, good anchovies, and — above all — good tuna packed in good oil. Browse the tuna collection for what we currently stock, and the [anchovy collection] for the fillets to go alongside.