Salad nicoise

I picked up this recipe while flying home from the US in late February a couple of years ago. Boredom struck and I found myself flicking through the TV shows available on the in flight entertainment system. I was delighted to find several episodes of The Good Cook with Simon Hopkinson and couldn’t wait to get home and rustle up this treat of a recipe. I did so the following weekend and we ate the results while sitting in the sunshine in the garden; yes, it was warm in February that year! 
For those who don’t like anchovies, you could replace them with fresh tuna- select a large fresh fillet of tuna and sear it in a frying pan on both sides for two minutes before slicing into strips and adorning the salad. Or, for the fish-phobic, try grilled chicken strips. Don’t forget to season them though or you won’t get the sweet-salty contrast that is so important here.

Serves 3-4 for lunch

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 8 artichoke hearts (bottled) in olive oil
• 16 black olives
• 2tsp green capers drained of their brine
• 4 large, very ripe tomatoes quartered
• ½ a cucumber, peeled and sliced in chunks
• 4 spring onions finely chopped
• Handful of green beans blanched and chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 tin anchovies in olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped chervil
• Small handful basil
• 1 garlic clove finely chopped
• 175ml extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 little gem lettuces, leaves washed and sliced
• Loaf of sourdough bread to serve

Method

1. First make the dressing- whisk together the garlic and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside. The vinegar will start to cook the garlic and take the edge off of its flavour.
2. Place the eggs in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil then switch off the heat and leave to cook for five minutes.
3. Meanwhile, arrange the lettuce leaves in a large bowl. Chop and sprinkle over the herbs. Add the cucumber, tomatoes, olives, artichokes, capers, spring onions and green beans. Drain the anchovies of their oil and lay them on the top (discard the oil).
4. Add the olive oil to the vinegar dressing along with the salt and pepper, mix well and pour over the salad.
5. Cool the eggs under cold running water for two minutes then peel and slice into quarters. It’s best to slice them over the salad bowl as the yolks will still be runny.
6. Serve with toasted slices of sour dough bread and eat in the sunshine