nicoise "style" salad finally, but with a slight twist

The style qualifier allows us to break French tradition to bend this recipe in our direction. Like MLK remarked about the trajectory of history, though not in a comparable context. Ani and bob had a memorable Nicoise salad preparted by a French lady on Martinique during our honeymoon visit. There may have been isolated sampling since but not memorable. It was time for this experiment to be performed. White beans seemed natural to throw into the mix, since we don't get our bean quotient frequently enough, and then avocado, why not? We love them.

The search on nicoise salad with white beans immediately popped our game plan up to pole position at the top of the hit list, that is when the autocomplete feature added on black olives. Seemed to check all bob's boxes.

ingredients

 Â¾ lb green beans, trimmed and snapped in half [we got recipe ready beans, just had to cut]
1 (12 oz) can solid white albacore tuna, drained [we used 7oz]
1 (16 oz) can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed [we used 13.4 oz cannellini]
1 (2.25 oz) can sliced black olives, drained
¼ medium red onion, thinly sliced [half small onion here]
1 t dried oregano
6 T extra-virgin olive oil
3 T lemon juice
½ t finely grated lemon zest
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
4 large eggs large hard-cooked eggs, peeled and quartered
[we added back in the traditional potato chunks, tiny red baby potatoes, halved: 1 c]
[we added one ripe avocado, in small chunks]
[Isgouhi suggested a light sprinkling of Aleppo red pepper for garnish, looks good on the yellow yolks].

instructions

  1. Prep the onion and baby potatoes (cook until softened), lemon zest and juice. Open the white bean can, olives, boil the eggs and let cool.
  2. Place the green beans, 1/3 c water and a large pinch of salt in a medium skillet. Cover, turn heat on high, and bring water to boil.
  3. Once the beans start to steam, set timer and cook until tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. (Because the beans cook in such a small amount of water, make sure not to let the skillet run dry.) Immediately dump them onto a lipped cookie sheet lined with paper towels to cool.
  4. Mix the tuna, white beans, olives and onion in a medium bowl.
  5. Whisk together oregano, oil, lemon juice and zest in a medium bowl, then pour over the salad and gently stir to combine.
  6. Adjust seasonings to taste. Garnish with Aleppo red pepper if on hand and place the eggs yolk side up evanely spaced around the border of the bowl.
  7. Serve and enjoy.Three of us only polished off half this recipe, intended for 4 hungry eaters apparently.

notes

  1. AllRecipes.com: Nicoise-Style Tuna Salad With White Beans & Olives.
  2. Illustrations available.
nicoisesaladbob.htm: 16-nov-2021 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]