The heatwave has finally passed here in Paris and we can enjoy being outside again.
When it’s not too hot, Parisians love to spend summer weekends having a picnic in one of our many beautiful parks. But while you might imagine a picnic in Paris means a baguette, wine and cheese, we prefer to make salads, quiche, pissaladière, clafoutis and other dishes that won’t melt (like French cheese) in the sun!
We asked friends from Nice how to get this traditional ‘niçoise’ recipe right.
Salade Niçoise and the French Riviera
Like socca, pain bagnat and ratatouille, Salade Niçoise is one of the must-try dishes of the French Riviera. The southern coast of France is famous for its opulent past during the Belle Époque, its film festivals, as well as its breathtaking mountain and coastal landscapes with their azure-blue coastline. A place as colourful and enticing as a salade niçoise!
The ingredients of Salade Niçoise
Like all traditional French recipes, there are variations of Salade Niçoise. The original recipe was a simple salad of tomatoes and anchovies with olive oil. Over time other vegetables like peppers, broad beans, spring oonions and radishes were added, all of them raw.
If you are expecting a salad of cooked potatoes and beans that are popular ingredients of Salade Niçoise outside France, prepare to be disappointed. As Jacques Médecin said in his book La Cuisine du Comte de Nice, “never, never, I beg you, include boiled potato or any other boiled vegetable in your salad niçoise”.
Who was Jacques Médecin?
Jacques Médecin was a French politician who was born in Nice in 1928. He was mayor of Nice on-and-off for 24 years and developed the city considerably. He was an extremely popular mayor, and despite corruption charges that resulted in him fleeing to South America and being extradited back to France, you can still see streets and tram stops named after him when you visit Nice.
Médecin also found time to write a cookbook of local recipes, including the right way to make Salade Niçoise. Today, we think of his recipe as the true Salade Niçoise, and one you should try for your next picnic!
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Run the boiled eggs under cold water and leave to cool. When cool, peel the eggs.
- Wash the tomatoes and cut them into eighths. Place them in a large salad bowl.
- Wash the peppers, cut them in half, remove the white, bitter pith from inside. Chop the peppers roughly and add them to the large bowl with the tomatoes.
- Wash and finely chop the spring onions, including the stalks, then add them to the bowl.
- Remove the 8 salted anchovy fillets from the salt and cut them into thirds in the bowl and toss the ingredients together.
- Open the tin of tuna, drain it, and flake it into the bowl.
- Add the black olives and broad beans to the bowl, and mix again.
- Trim the radishes, removing the stalks and tips, wash them and slice them into thin rounds. Add them to the bowl.
- Cut the artichoke stems off flush with the base. Cut them in half vertically, remove all the choke from the centre, and peel off the first 2–3 layers of leaves (as shown in the photo). Chop very finely. If you prefer to cook the artichokes, put the halves in boiling water for 10 minutes and leave to cool before slicing them and adding to the bowl.
- Wash the basil leaves, chop them finely and add them to the bowl.
- Add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and mix together.
- Cut the eggs in half and arrange them on top of the salad.
- Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
