Mediterranean Diet Recipe: Real Salade Nicoise

Authorities on the cuisine of Nice (including recently incarcerated former mayor Jacques Medecin, author of the definitive book on the subject) express outrage at the sins committed in the name of this famous, gloriously simple salad. Perhaps no dish of the region is more frequently or profoundly misinterpreted -- and the silliest misinterpretation of all, to the Nicoise, is the use of fresh tuna in a salad that has depended, since its creation generations ago, on preserved fish (either tuna or anchovies -- never both). The real thing, say the experts, has no lettuce and no cooked vegetables (potatoes, green beans, or otherwise). The particulars vary according to availability of ingredients, but this is a standard version. 6 tomatoes, ripe but still firm, quartered

Ingredients Required:
Salt
2 green peppers, ribbed, seeded and cut into rings
1 cucumber, sliced
6 small fresh artichoke hearts, sliced thin
3 to 4 ounces Nicoise olives
3 green onions, chopped
12 anchovy fillets, or 7 to 8 ounces top-quality oil-packed white tuna
3 hard-boiled eggs, halved, optional
Extra-virgin olive oil
Season tomatoes to taste with salt on all cut surfaces. Set aside.

Procedure:
• Arrange green peppers, cucumber slices and artichoke hearts on 6 plates, dividing evenly. Scatter olives and chopped green onions on top of vegetables, dividing evenly. Arrange salted tomatoes, anchovies or tuna (crumble tuna by hand into large chunks) and hard-boiled eggs on plates.

• Drizzle salads with olive oil to taste. Season to taste with salt. Do not toss.

• Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:
211 calories;
206 mg sodium;
93 mg cholesterol;
52 grams fat;
13 grams carbohydrates;
13 grams protein;
0.82 gram fiber.


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