Almost Salad Nicoise

Classic Salad Nicoise has tuna, potatoes, green beans, hard cooked egg, black olives and salad greens with a garlic dressing. For dinner one evening this week I made my own version which had many of those elements, but I decided on a citrus-mustard dressing. Sweetie had bought some beautiful tuna steaks and grilled them so that they were still very pink inside, then he sliced them to put on top of the salad.

I cooked red potatoes and green beans and kept them hot while I made the dressing. The salad greens were comprised of romaine, iceberg, red cabbage. There were also some non-traditional carrot slices. When the tuna slices were ready I drained the potatoes and green beans and put them on top of the salad greens in a large bowl. The dressing when on next and it was all tossed together. Because I forgot to cook them ahead of time we didn't have hard cooked egg. Because I really don't care for olives, those were not included either. As you can see, not a classic at all, but still an interesting dinner for a hot evening. Our plates were piled with the dressed greens mixture and the tuna slices placed on top, to one side. I really enjoyed the contrast between the icy salad greens and the warm potatoes, beans, and tuna. An additional salad of fresh tomatoes, sliced, then dressed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and pepper completed the plate. It was delicious!

We have been having a heat wave with three straight days of 102 degree highs, preceded by a couple of days around 100 degrees and followed today by a high in the 90s. It should be in the 80s tomorrow and I am very grateful. Hot weather has never been my thing.

Citrus Mustard Dressing

grated zest of 1/2 medium orange
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
grated zest of 1/2 lime
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lime
2 teaspoons Dijon style mustard
salt and pepper to taste
about 1/4 cup good quality olive oil

Place the grated zests and the citrus juice in a small bowl. Whisk in the mustard, salt and pepper. Continue whisking and very slowly add in the olive oil.