This salad has many variations, depending on where you look for the recipe, and that’s part of the beauty of making this one: the creative latitude it gives you.
There are 3 ingredients that characterise the traditional Salade Niçoise: boiled eggs, potatoes and green beans. Tuna is the one constant, and it’s usually tinned tuna. This is what the standard salad looks like I always forget to take photos when I’m cooking):
My version has no potatoes, and sometimes I substitute snowpeas for beans. The eggs should be almost hard and the beans, good quality string beans, should be steamed just on the firm side of tender.
The unusual ingredients in this version are the semi-sundried tomatoes and the goat cheese (it adds a special je-ne-sais-quoi). The dressing is simple blend of good quality Aussie olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, Masterfoods Australian Mustard, seasoning, rosemary and oregano. The dressing is a balancing act, mix the components until none dominates. The mustard helps to blend the ingredients.
Ingredients
4-6 boiled eggs, cooled to fridge temperature
Cooked beans, cooled to fridge temp
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved if on the big side
Handful semi-sundried tomatoes
Handful of black olives, such as small Kalamata
1/2 green capsicum, cut into thin slices
3-4 mid-sized shallots sliced diagonally
2 small Lebanese cucumbers, sliced into sixths in 5cm lengths
Lettuce, take your pick, torn into edible bits
Bunch of basil leaves (mix with salad)
250-300g good quality flaked tuna in oil, drained well
some anchovy fillets, drained on paper towel, cut into 2-3cm pieces
125g of goat cheese chopped into bite-size chunks (for this recipe, we want a fresh crumbly goat cheese, not a ripe and runny one).
Dressing
The traditional dressing is a vinaigrette made from extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, 1 clove garlic, peeled, bruised with the flat of a knife, and 2 tsp tarragon vinegar. Use it or my version above, as you prefer.
Here’s Damien Pignolet’s version which uses that dressing
http://gourmettraveller.com.au/damien-pignolets-salade-nicoise.htm