Can something be different, yet the same? Check out this Niçoise salad recipe and open the world of possibilities!

Human brain likes to find patterns, connect clues, and overall yearns for explanations for things it doesn’t understand.

What did we learn?

Learning didn’t just give us the evolutionary edge to raise above other, faster or more powerful animals on Earth but created the base for our civilization. Unfortunately, the eagerness of our learning paired with the almost always incomplete source of information made us come to less than ideal conclusions in many occasions.

It seems though that many times, especially when we were competing in a less intelligent environment, using incomplete information to make decisions, was superior to rely completely on instincts.

After all, believe that an all-powerful being watches over all of our actions 24/7 hurts no one, yet keeps the tribe in check, is more useful than not. Even tough it may mean that sometimes somebody has to take one for the team and jump into the volcano to sooth the mood of the gods.

Is learning bad?

Without our ability to see patterns in our environment and learn from them, our race couldn’t reach so far in its civilization. Unfortunately, it seems that what made us stand out from our early surroundings isn’t really up for the job in our new habitat.

Sure, as we are pretty good at conceiving imminent danger, we eliminated most of it from our modern life so we aren’t threatened by uncontrollable wild animals but we are pretty bad conceiving long term or even mid-term dangers.

This causes all sort of weird problems, like many of us have irrational fears from animals, like sharks while not even recognize that only humans kill more people a year than mosquitos transmit illnesses.

Can we learn to trust?

It seems, we also have a hard time grasping the magnitude of exponential growth that is so apparent during the pandemic and climate change or how easily we can be led to believe in anything, once we place our trust in someone.

Earning someone’s trust seems like a hard thing to do but in reality, it is not more difficult than make somebody to try a new dish. Once the meal is presented in an appeasing way, we happily try it out and if something isn’t terribly off, we end up liking it.

Some may seem to have a natural talent for such presentation thus achieved a status that even mentioning something like “French cuisine” is a valid entry ticket for an exclusive culinary experience.

We know though that the French is far from just relying on talent alone but require dedication and hard work to achieve perfection, even when it comes as subtle thing as a salad.

What is Niçoise salad?

Niçoise ( niˈswaz]) salad is originated from Nice. Apparently if we know the correct pronunciation of this nice city, as many of us does it wrong of course, then we can easily nail the name of the salad.

Originally only included tomatoes, anchovies, and olive oil. Luckily, over time more ingredients have been added and someone swapped anchovies to tuna too. Traditionalists and those who prefer anchovies, like to stick strictly to raw summer vegetables, which sometimes includes the tender early summer green beans but rebels around the world make their own version of the salad, adding boiled potato or green beans.

It seems like that everyone, who wants to make a name themselves in cooking, must make their own version of Niçoise salad and above all, defend it from the stanch protectors.

How many Niçoise salads are there out?

Over the years many has tried to conquer the followers of traditionalist unsuccessfully but they found new devotees outside of the salad’s native country. Now many versions of Niçoise salad exist around the world, each with their own twist.

Interestingly, there is not one common ingredient in all the recipes that call themselves Niçoise salad can muster, yet when we look at them, we can understand why that salad belongs to the same family. Our brain just loves connecting clues and finding patterns.

Luckily, we don’t have to defend our creations if we aren’t after a Michelin stars in Provence, as that would be the death knell of our career, so we can let our imagination run wild as long as the clues on the plate lead back to the Niçoise salad.

Ingredients

Salad

4 oz / 120g Green beans
7 oz / 200g Baby potatoes (skip it on keto)
7 oz . 200g Cherry tomatoes
2 oz / 50g Romaine lettuce
3 pieces / 150g Eggs (hard boiled)
¾ cup / 100g Black olives (deseeded)
8 oz / 250g Canned tuna (drained)

Dressing

1½ tablespoons / 20ml Lemon juice
4 tablespoons / 60ml Extra virgin olive oil
1 piece / 3g Garlic (minced/grated!!!)
½ teaspoon / 3g Salt
1 teaspoon / 5g Dijon mustard
Optional
- Black pepper
- Basil

How to make Niçoise Salad

Salad

If fresh green beans are used, remove the remaining steam then cut them up into 1″ / 2.5 cm pieces.
If potatoes are used, steam cook them until soft in the center, about 10 – 15 minutes then sprinkle a generous amount of salt on them and let them cool down.
Hard boil the eggs, 15 – 20 minutes. Let them cool then slice them up.
Drain the tuna, olives.
Slice up the ingredients as desired.

Dressing

Make the dressing by mixing lemon juice, olive oil, grated garlic, salt and Dijon mustard together. Make use of the pestle if any. Add optional herbs like basil if desired.