I've cooked my way through all 264 recipes
in The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook!

December 15, 2010

Salade Nicoise Royale (p. 359)

We had our holiday potluck at the library today, and I wanted to bring something that I could make a night in advance and that I could serve cold. Salade Nicoise Royale has a beautiful presentation and, although the recipe calls for the tuna hot, straight off the grill, can also translate into a cold dish.

This recipe requires pretty minimal cooking -- potatoes and green beans are each cooked in boiling water until tender and the fish itself (tuna steak) is put under the broiler (or on a grill) for 8 minutes per side.

Otherwise this is all about layering. First, place romaine lettuce around the edge of a large platter.


Prepare the potatoes by tossing them in olive oil and red wine vinegar (which I misread and used white wine vinegar instead) and salt and pepper. Cut the potatoes and place them on the lettuce on one end of the platter, with sliced, salted tomatoes at the other end. The cooked green beans are put on both sides of the platter and then all the veggies are scattered with sliced red peppers, green peppers, and red onion. Strew basil leaves over everything.

Place the cooked fish right in the middle of the platter and, just before serving, dress the veggies with a mixture of olive oil, more red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, scallions, and capers.


Everyone thought the presentation was gorgeous, and I really enjoyed this salad.  The only issue is that it's sort of difficult to serve as a real salad since the lettuce is weighed down under everything. I served myself a little of each area except the romaine since I couldn't reach that. I would definitely make this again for a party -- it makes a huge amount -- you can't really tell from this picture how much food this made.

Luckily, I'm heading to another party this evening, so I'll bring all the tasty leftovers there!

red pepper -- $2.35
green pepper -- $1.00
tomato -- $1.53
red onion -- $1.35
romaine lettuce -- $1.99
scallions -- $.99
green beans -- $1.71
potatoes -- $1.62
basil -- $2.99
tuna -- $15.35
Total Cost of Salade Nicoise Royale: $30.88
($3.09 per serving -- though this it's a little hard to gage how many servings this would have been for a real meal, since at a potluck people generally eat less of each item)

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Thanks for dropping by! Love, Katrina.