Vegetarian Nicoise Salad

Weighed down by rich holiday food?  Try this tangy, refreshing alternative.

 

Heavy, rich foods are one of the delights and miseries of the holiday season.  While I revel, as much as then next person, in the decadency of it all, sometimes it leaves me feeling more than a little sluggish and weighed down.  One of my favorite remedies is this vegetarian take on the classic Nicoise Salad.  Now, this particular version happens to be my own favorite combination of flavors, but you can easily change up the ingredients to suit your own palate.  The homemade dressing is what really makes this salad special, so don't substitute bottled!  It won't compare, plus you'll be getting all those nasty additives they put into bottled dressings to make them shelf-stable.  Don't forget to use organic ingredients whenever possible, especially the spinach and potatoes in this recipe.  Salad greens, like lettuce and spinach, and potatoes can harbor some of the highest levels of pesticide residue! 

 

 

Vegetarian Nicoise Salad

(Serves 3 to 4, depending on how hungry you are!)

 

For the Salad:

 

3 medium or 4 small red potatoes, washed and cubed

Approximately 8 oz young fresh green beans (haricot verts), washed and trimmed

1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained

Approximately 8 to 10 oz roasted red bell pepper strips (from a jar), drained

1 can black olives, drained

1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained

3 to 4 hard boiled eggs, thinly sliced

Fresh spinach

Note: regular green beans will work, but would probably be better if blanched first, as they are not as tender

 

For the Dressing:

 

1/4 cup lemon juice, plus a little more if you like your dressing tangy!

1 Tbs or more Dijon mustard

1 shallot or 2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped (or 1 Tbs already prepared basil)

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

 

First, boil the potatoes in salted water for approximately 10 minutes, until soft, then drain and set aside to cool.

 

To make the dressing, whisk the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl.  Slowly drizzle the oil into the mixture, whisking constantly.  Set aside.

 

To assemble the salads you may simply combine all the ingredients, dividing them evenly between 3 or 4 bowls, but I like to arrange them so that certain flavors are enjoyed together.  This is my technique:  Place the green beans in the bowl, to one side.  Make a pile of artichoke hearts next to the green beans.  Beside the artichokes, make a small pile of red pepper strips and then, beside that, a fairly substantial pile of fresh spinach.  These ingredients should now cover the bottom of your bowl.  Top the red pepper strips with cooked potatoes and top the spinach with navy beans.  On the very top of the salad, I place the olives and the hard boiled egg slices.  Dress and serve!

 

 

*The salad is mostly my own conglomeration of ingredients.  The dressing is adapted from a recipe in the cookbook, Power Foods.