The business card of Nice. The recipe appeared on the Cote d’Azur a century ago. It originally included anchovies, and only over time they were replaced by tuna. As time went on, the ingredients of the traditional recipe changed and acquired many variations. Even the great Auguste Escoffier created his own version of the Niçoise salad, and Matisse, Renoir, and Cézanne captured it on their canvases. The chef of a French restaurant in Odessa, Vadim Chevganiuk, also created his own version of the famous Niçoise salad for my cooking school.
The business card of Nice. The recipe appeared on the Cote d’Azur a century ago. It originally included anchovies, and only over time they were replaced by tuna. As time went on, the ingredients of the traditional recipe changed and acquired many variations. Even the great Auguste Escoffier created his own version of the Niçoise salad, and Matisse, Renoir, and Cézanne captured it on their canvases. The chef of a French restaurant in Odessa, Vadim Chevganiuk, also created his own version of the famous Niçoise salad for my cooking school.- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 5 minutes
- Serves: 4
- Difficulty: medium
- Course: salad
- Cookware: frying pan, fish knife, salad spinner, egg poacher, timer
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
⠀- 2 lettuce leaves
- 2 lollo rosso lettuce leaves
- 4 frisée lettuce leaves
- 20 g rocket
- 1 sprig of cherry tomatoes
- 12 olives
- 100 g green beans
- ½ sweet red onion, peeled
- 4 quail eggs
- 400 g tuna fillet
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 25 g butter
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ground white pepper
- salt
For decorating:
- 8 chive sprigs
- 8 small pieces of pickled truffle
Cooking method
Step 1
Tear the lettuces’ leaves into large pieces with your hands and mix. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Transfer salad on plates. Top with cherry tomatoes and olives.
Step 2
Slice the onion. Place a pot of water over high heat and bring to boil. Dip the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove the beans and transfer to a bowl. In a frying pan over high heat, heat the olive oil and fry the beans for 2 minutes, add the butter and onions. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beans and onions to the plates.
Step 3
Poach quail eggs (2-3 minutes). Add to on salad.
Step 4
Cut the tuna fillet into blocks, season with salt and pepper, and roll in flour. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over high heat and fry the tuna on each side for 10 seconds. Cut the tuna diagonally into slices and add to the salad. Put the truffles on top of the salad, garnish with chives, and serve.
My tips and tricks:
About how to cook the perfect poached egg, you can say: how many people, so many opinions. I’ll tell you my own: the first thing you have to determine is how fresh your egg is. If it is more than 3-4 days old, then you will have to tinker with it. If you are sure of the freshness of the egg, gently break it into a cup so as not to damage the yolk. Pour water into a wide saucepan and bring to boil. Remove the saucepan from heat and gently pour the egg from the cup into the water. There should be as much water in the saucepan so that the “path of the egg” to the bottom from the surface of the water is the shortest, so less whites turn into flakes. Then close the saucepan with a lid and leave for 3-4 minutes. Carefully remove the egg with a slotted spoon and place it in a slotted spoon on a paper towel to drain the water. Then transfer the egg to a plate. In this simple way, you can cook several eggs at the same time. The number of eggs depends on your needs and the width of your pot. The poached egg is ready when the white is completely cooked and the yolk is runny. If you want to achieve the perfect egg shape, then carefully cut off the excess whites. What if you are not sure about the freshness of your eggs? There are 2 options. First, use a special egg poacher. Thanks to it, you will not lose a drop of whites, and the shape of the poached egg will be perfect. Second, before cooking the egg, you need to separate the watery part of the whites. To do this, break the egg into a cup, carefully pour it onto a slotted spoon. After the watery portion of the whites has drained, gently dip the egg into the water with a slotted spoon. Then proceed as with the fresh egg.
- 2 lettuce leaves
- 2 lollo rosso lettuce leaves
- 4 frisée lettuce leaves
- 20 g rocket salad
- 1 sprig of cherry tomatoes
- 12 olives
- 100 g green beans
- ½ sweet red onion, peeled
- 4 quail eggs
- 400 g tuna fillet
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 25 g butter
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ground white pepper
- salt
- For decorating:
- 8 chive sprigs
- 8 small pieces of pickled truffle
- Tear the lettuces’ leaves into large pieces with your hands and mix. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Transfer salad on plates. Top with cherry tomatoes and olives.
- Slice the onion. Place a pot of water over high heat and bring to boil. Dip the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove the beans and transfer to a bowl. In a frying pan over high heat, heat the olive oil and fry the beans for 2 minutes, add the butter and onions. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add beans and onions to the plates.
- Poach quail eggs (2-3 minutes). Add to on salad.
- Cut the tuna fillet into blocks, season with salt and pepper, and roll in flour. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over high heat and fry the tuna on each side for 10 seconds. Cut the tuna diagonally into slices and add to the salad. Put the truffles on top of the salad, garnish with chives, and serve.