Salad Nicoise

Well, I googled this salad so I could figure out how to describe it, and that didn't help at all. Nearly everything I found sounded nasty, and this isn't nasty at all...obviously, as I'd never put anything nasty on my blog. This salad is really good, and a little different.

Isn't that such a terrible description? Fine lot of help Google is. Just read the ingredients and make up your own description. :)

So...I start off by steaming some veggies. I cut up 2 cups of red potatoes....

Mom was taking pictures for me and made me laugh...

I steamed them until they were just barely done. You do NOT want them to be soft!

While those steam, I prepped 1/2 a pound of fresh green beans...

By cutting them into small-ish pieces...

When the potatoes were done, I drained them and ran them under cold water to chill them...

Now steam the green beans. These don't need to be very done, either...just barely done.

Now, I make the dressing that gets poured over everything...

Start off by chopping 5 green onions...

Add 2+ cloves of crushed garlic...I think I used 5 or so...I'm garlic-crazy!

You can mix this dressing in anything you want, as long as it's big enough, of course. I just had a measuring cup handy!

Add 6 tablespoons of olive oil...

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar...

and 1 tablespoon EACH apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and maple syrup or honey...

The juice of 1 lemon...

And 2 teaspoons of salt...

Mix all that up well and set it aside for the time being!

Now, the original recipe calls for butter lettuce, but I used green leaf lettuce. It was just fine. :) I started off by tearing a whole head of green leaf lettuce into smallish pieces...

And then I used our kitchen scissors to cut it to smithereens. We like our lettuce cut to smithereens...we eat more that way.

Now, add the steamed and cooled green beans...

And the steamed and cooled red potatoes...

Pour the prepared dressing on top...

And toss!

You can also sprinkle with fresh black pepper, which I happen to be obsessed with...so I added a lot. :)

And that's it! This salad is delicious, and it's one of Dad's favorites. It doesn't keep well at all, so it's best made right before serving. Leftovers the next day weren't very appetizing...the lettuce gets very wilty.

We took this to a bluegrass festival not too long ago and had it for a main dish, topped with strips of stir-fried chicken. Now THAT was incredible!

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