An ELEGANT French-inspired salad with juicy salmon, tender potatoes, soft-boiled eggs, crispy haricot verts, and more — all drizzled with a super FLAVORFUL fresh basil vinaigrette!!
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Total Time45 minutesmins
Course: Sides, Salads & Vegetables
Cuisine: French
Keyword: nicoise salad dressing, nicoise salad ingredients, salmon nicoise, salmon nicoise salad, what is nicoise salad
Servings: 6
Calories: 672kcal
Author: Averie Sunshine
Ingredients
Salad
1 ½poundsskin-on salmon filet
3tablespoonsolive oil
2tablespoonslemon juice
1 to 2tablespoonshoney
¾teaspoonkosher salt
½teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
6large eggs
1 ½poundsbaby red potatoes
12ouncesharicots verts
12ouncesartichoke heartsI used frozen that I allowed to come to room temp
10radishes
1medium English cucumbersliced into thin rounds
1 ½cupscherry or grape tomatoesI used a mixture of red and yellow
salt and pepperto taste
Basil Vinaigrette
2ouncesfresh basil leavesabout 2 cups loosely packed or about 2 large handfuls
about 1/3 cup olive oil
half of 1 large shallot
2tablespoonsred wine vinegarapple cider or your favorite vinegar may be substituted
1tablespoonhoneyor to taste
½teaspoonsaltor to taste
½teaspoonfreshly ground black pepperor to taste
splash wateroptional see note below
Instructions
Salmon:
Preheat oven to 425F (use Convection if you have it) and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Add the salmon skin-side down, evenly drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, honey, season with salt and pepper, and roll up the edges of the foil slightly to contain the liquid runoff.
Bake for about 8 to 12 minutes, or until salmon is just cooked through; don't overcook. Exact baking time will depend on the thickness of salmon filet and personal preference for doneness.
When salmon is as cooked as desired, place it on a large serving platter. While the salmon bakes, move onto the next step.
Salad:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, slowly and gently add the eggs with a slotted spoon, and boil for 7 minutes (for firmer-set yolks, boil up to 10 minutes; or boil for 11-12 minutes for true hard-boiled eggs), remove the eggs from the water, and immediately place them in a bath of ice water; set aside.
Add the potatoes (whole) to the water and boil for about 15 minutes, or until the largest potatoes are fork tender, remove with a slotted spoon, halve or quarter the potatoes, and place them on the serving platter.
Add the haricots verts and artichokes to the boiling water and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the haricot verts are as crisp-tender as desired. Plunge everything quickly in the same ice water bath that the eggs are in. Remove the haricots verts and artichokes with a slotted spoon and place on the serving platter.
Add the radishes, cucumbers, and tomatoes to the serving platter.
Peel the eggs, halve them, and place on the serving platter. As desired, salt and pepper the various salad ingredients, to taste; set aside and make the vinaigrette.
Basil Vinaigrette:
To the canister of a high speed blender or food processor, add all ingredients (except water), and blend on high speed until smooth. Note – I used a Vita-Mix and the ingredients were just underneath the level of the blade so it was spinning around and not blending them so I added a splash of water just to bring everything up high enough to catch on the blade. I chose water rather than oil to save calories and fat but you could use more oil, or double the batch and add more basil, shallot, etc. Taste and make any necessary flavor adjustments (more salt, pepper, honey, etc.).
Notes
Storage: Salad is best fresh but ingredients (separated) in airtight containers will keep for up to 4 days. Vinaigrette will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days, noting it may darken as time passes due to the natural oxidation of basil. Vinaigrette adapted from my Basil Vinaigrette.