Brown rice Niçoise-ish salad
with a choose-your-own-adventure dressing
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary. ‘ Find archived recipes on my recipe index.
Salade Niçoise is an excellent summer salad to remember and make often. It is traditionally made with tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, olives, and anchovies or tuna, with common additions such as green beans, potatoes, and a vinaigrette dressing. What I love about Niçoise, and similarly gado gado, is that it is a salad of simply prepared ingredients which are served separate, distinct and untossed, but bound together by the a single thread: a great dressing.
As a non-fish eater, I’ve never made or eaten a true Niçoise salad. But I have made several adapted versions. In my book Neighbourhood, I shared a ‘Kinda-Nicoise’ with a caper mayo. The salad featured ‘steamed eggs’ which was a preparation I favoured at the time to achieve the silky whites and delicate yolks that my kids loved. Here’s how to do it, excerpted from the book: Fill a pan with water to a depth of 1-inch (2.5cm) and sit a steamer on the top. Place the (6 large) eggs on top of the steamer basket, cover with lid and bring the water to the boil. Steam the eggs for around 5 minutes for soft boiled, 7 minutes for medium or around 9 minutes for hard. Of course, the amount of time will depend on the size of your eggs, so you may have to try this a few times to get it perfect for you! When ready, immediately cool under cold running water.
[author note: I haven’t made steamed eggs in years]
In Tenderheart, I created a Pickled fennel niçoise and served it with a lively caper vinaigrette. Simple, elegant and pleasingly acidic.
This week, I have another non-traditional rendition, a Niçoise-ish salad served with brown rice and a choose-your-own-adventure dressing. You have two choices, both excellent but quite different and mood/pantry-dependent: a slightly sweet, aromatic chive vinaigrette or a creamy, briny tartar sauce. Which one will you choose?
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Monday: I scoop up this no-cook chili bean salad with corn chips!
Tuesday: Something textural and herbaceous, Herby pearl couscous and sugar snap pea salad
Wednesday: Something cooling, Cold Sesame Noodles With Cucumber, Corn and Basil
Thursday: Something warming, for those who need it, Fried Cheese and Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy
Friday: Potatoes for dinner! Yes please. Make it mapo potato.
Brown rice Nicoise-ish salad
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love.
This is a choose-your-own-adventure dressing. Will you choose the Chive Vinaigrette OR the Tartar Sauce as your dressing?
Serves 4
350g (12 ounces) green beans, trimmed
675g (1 1/2 pounds) small potatoes such as new, chat or pee wee, halved or cut into similar sized chunks
4 to 6 large eggs
4 to 6 cups cooked brown rice
200g (7 ounces) cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 Persian/Lebanese cucumbers, trimmed and sliced
125g (1 cup) black or green olives, pitted
1 (400g/14 ounces) can butter or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Chive vinaigrette
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped chives
2 teaspoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Tartar sauce
1 cup mayonnaise (I used vegan variety)
3 tablespoons chopped dill
1/2 small onion, any colour, finely chopped
60g (1/3 cup) chopped dill pickles
2 tablespoons pickle brine
salt and pepper
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the green beans and blanch until just crisp tender and bright green, 3 to 4 minutes. Using tongs or spider ladle, remove them from the water and place in a colander in the sink. Refresh under cold water until they are cool and drain. Set aside.
To the same water, add the potatoes and cook until tender, 13 to 15 minutes (depending upon their size). Remove from water and allow set aside to cool.
To the same water (check the level and if it needs a top up, add a bit more hot tap water, bringing it back to the boil), add the eggs and set the timer for 8 minutes for slightly firmer yolks, 7 minutes for perfectly jammy yolks or 6 minutes for runny yolks.
If you are making the chive vinaigrette, place the garlic, capers, chives, maple syrup, and olive oil into a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of water and whisk to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
If you are making the tartar sauce, place the mayonnaise, dill, onion, pickles, and pickle brine in a bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve, place some brown rice on a plate or bowl and then add the green beans, potatoes, eggs, tomatoes, cucumber, olives and cannellini/butter beans. Drizzle with the chive vinaigrette or dollop with the tartar sauce. Serve at room temperature.
okay, yes, the salad is beckoning however I stopped literaly short at the mention of MAPO POTATOES. : )
mic, dropped.
I really like your writing style—elegant and respectful of the original recipe. Both dressings sound delicious, but for a Niçoise-inspired salad, I’d go with the tartar dressing. It feels like it ties everything together beautifully, especially with the addition of brown rice.