Tuna Niçoise Salad

No guilty feelings when eating this elegant, tasty salad.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans tuna (Wild Planet), drained

• 3 medium sized potatoes, about 1 lb

• 1/2 lb blanched green beans (cut, halved or whole)

• 1/2 medium onion, sliced thinly

• 1 sweet pepper (yellow/orange/red), cut into strips

• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges

• 1 cup mixed olives, pitted (preferably packed in oil)*

• marinated artichokes, optional

• 4 hard boiled eggs

• 1 dozen Artisan red mini lettuce leaves

Ingredients for dressing:

• 4 garlic cloves, crushed & finely chopped

• 1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

• 1 tsp anchovies paste

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

1. Wash potatoes and place in a pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, uncover and cook for 15 minutes; or until fork tender - fork should easily pierce potatoes to center. Drain and allow to cool. Cut potatoes (with or without skin) into 1/4" thick slices.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together chopped garlic, Dijon mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, anchovies paste, salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Drizzle half of the dressing over potato slices.

4. Combine green beans, onion, and sweet pepper. Stir in 1/4 of the dressing.

5. Cut boiled eggs in half or quarter lengthwise.

6. Lay ingredients, buffet style, on a very large platter or two.

7. Serve with extra dressing on the side.

Serves 4.

Notes&Tips:

• For my hubby's birthday, I wanted to take him out to lunch since he wanted to have dinner with the whole family. However, he said he didn't feel like going out to lunch, but wouldn't mind coming home to have lunch with me. So I had to scramble to think what to make for him instead of the same old sandwich routine. I have been wanting to make this salad for a couple of weeks but always seemed to be missing an ingredient or two. As it turned out, I had all the ingredient to make Salad Niçoise., and so that's what I made. He was delighted.

• *Niçoise olives is what originally gave this dish its name. Niçoise olives are only grown in the French Riviera with a low crop yield. These are mostly sold and eaten domestically. These olives have a deep brown flesh with a large pit. There are a few places online that you can purchase these olives, but black olives or a mix of olives does not make this wonderful salad taste any less delicious.

• I've served this salad with mostly for lunch. Whenever I've served it for dinner, I have used fresh grilled tuna, sliced thinly. The Wild Planet brand of canned tuna are delicious and the company practices sustainable harvesting of seafood.

• The dressing for this salad is unbelievably decadent and adds so much depth to the salad.

• To plate salad, lay four lettuce leaves on bottom of plate, then layer the rest of the vegetables and fish, ending with the eggs on top. Drizzle with more dressing.