Recipes

Salads: Entrée Salads

Super Simple Salad Nicoise

Have your eggs boiled and cooled and your red potatoes cooked tender in the microwave before you start this recipe!

Ingredients:

• Dressing:
• 1/2 cup light favorite bottled balsamic vinaigrette (or Italian dressing)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
• Salad:
• 12 ounces green or yellow beans, trimmed
• 2 cans (6 1/2 ounces each) tuna canned in water (chunk light or Albacore), drained
• 8 anchovy fillets, drained (packed in oil) and pat them dry
• 1 pound tiny new potatoes, cleaned, pierced with fork, and microwaved until tender
• 1/2 whole red or yellow bell pepper, cut in thin (1/4-inch strips)
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes (cut in half if large sized)
• About 18 pitted black olives, drained well
• 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (optional)
• 2 teaspoons fresh tarragon leaves, finely chopped (optional)
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• salt to taste (optional)
• 3 large eggs (omega-3 if available) hard-cooked and peeled and cut into quarters

Preparation:

1. Add bottled vinaigrette to small bowl and whisk in the Dijon mustard; set aside.
2. Add green beans to microwave-safe dish with 1/4 cup water. Cook on HIGH for about 3 minutes or until just barely tender. Drain immediately and cover with cold ice water to stop the cooking process.
3. To assemble the salad, combine the beans, tuna, anchovies, potatoes, bell pepper, tomatoes, olives, fresh parsley and tarragon. Drizzle the dressing over the top and toss gently to cover all the salad ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste if desired. Garnish serving bowl with hard boiled eggs.

Yield:
6 servings (for 12 servings, double recipe)

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 420 calories, 35 g protein, 54 g carbohydrate, 6.6 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 147 mg cholesterol, 11 grams fiber, 776 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 14 percent.

Recipes provided by Elaine Magee; © 2008 Elaine Magee