Hey, y’all! Got a fancy one for you today!! You’re probably wondering how the heck to pronounce Nicoise. I had to look it up. First of all, it’s called Nicoise because it originates from the French city of Nice. It literally means “in the style of Nice.” It is pronounced nee-SWAZ. I told you-fancy.
To make this fancy salad, you’ll need little redskin tomatoes, radishes, white wine vinegar, broccoli, green beans, little tomatoes, olives (the recipe called for Nicoise olives-surprise- or Kalamata olives, I used black olives because they are my favorite and I had them on-hand), a shallot, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, garlic, and salt and pepper.
To start, the recipe called for pre-heating the oven to 425 degrees, lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, spreading the potatoes (cut into cubes) and radishes (sliced) on the sheet, doused with white wine vinegar. The recipe then said to bake the potatoes and radishes for about a half-hour. Unfortunately, this didn’t soften them up much and appeared to be drying them out. I ended up adding them to the steamer with the (spoiler alert!) broccoli and green beans.
If you haven’t already guessed it, steam the broccoli and green beans. I used our handy vegetable steamer that works great but is a pain to put away because it comes apart in multiple pieces.
Lastly, in a bowl whisk together the Dijon mustard, more white wine vinegar, maple syrup, finely diced shallots and garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Mix all the veggies in a bowl, top with the olives and the dressing and enjoy!
