Featured in our Spring 2024 Food + Entertaining article, A Splendid Luncheon to Remember, this salmon niçoise salad is the perfect go-to spring salad. Tender salmon, briny olives, crisp-tender green beans, and satisfying potatoes all soak up the zippy, perfectly balanced dressing. Don’t skip the anchovy garnish—it provides pops of umami saltiness that take this salad over the top. Niçoise olives can sometimes be hard to find, but if you can’t find them in jars, be sure to check your market’s olive bar or substitute with kalamatas if you have to.
Salmon Niçoise Salad
Course: Salads4
servingsIngredients
1 pound multicolored or red baby potatoes
8 ounces trimmed haricots verts
4 large eggs
2 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh juice (from 1 lemon), divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon black pepper, divided
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (from 1 medium shallot)
½ teaspoon honey
1 pound skin-on salmon fillet, any pin bones removed
1 pound mixed lettuces (such as frisée, curly endive and green leaf lettuce), torn (about 9 cups, from 2 heads lettuce)
½ cup pitted Niçoise olives, halved
8 anchovy fillets (from a 3.3-ounce jar)
1⁄3 cup torn fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil over high. Add potatoes; cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Add green beans; cook until potatoes are tender and green beans are tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer potatoes and green beans to a bowl filled with ice water, reserving boiling water in pot.
- Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower eggs into boiling water; cook until whites are set and yolks are jammy, 7 ½ minutes. Transfer eggs to bowl of ice water. Let potatoes, green beans, and eggs stand in ice water until cooled, about 5 minutes. Drain. Halve potatoes, and peel and quarter eggs.
- While potatoes, green beans and eggs cook and cool, whisk together mustard, lemon zest and ½ teaspoon each of the salt and pepper in a medium bowl. While whisking, gradually add 6 tablespoons of the oil, continuing to whisk until emulsified. Measure 2 tablespoons mixture into a separate small bowl for spreading on salmon and set aside. Whisk lemon juice, shallot and honey into remaining mustard mixture in medium bowl until combined; set dressing aside.
- Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons oil evenly onto a baking sheet. Place salmon, skin side down, on oiled baking sheet, and sprinkle evenly with remaining ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Spread reserved 2 tablespoons mustard mixture evenly over salmon. Bake in preheated oven until just cooked through, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes.
- Toss together lettuces and 3 tablespoons of the mustard-lemon juice dressing in a large bowl until lightly coated. Arrange on a platter or divide evenly among 4 plates. Flake salmon into large pieces and arrange evenly on lettuces. Top evenly with potatoes, green beans, eggs and olives. Drape anchovy fillets evenly over salmon and vegetables. Drizzle evenly with remaining dressing, scatter with parsley and serve.
Notes
- Recipe from Marianne Williams, Food & Wine