Dinner outside again! I lived in LA for three years and appreciated the weather every single day. You can be sure that I’ll also be able to sustain this glee through every single outdoor meal of Seattle’s short summer. Especially since it’s supposed to go right back to raining this week.
I took the picnic theme one step further by making a big main-dish composed salad, isn’t that summery? And I was quite pleased to be one-upped in the pretending-its-summer department by our friends who served a rum punch on the deck before dinner.
Salade Nicoise: Make an anchovy vinaigrette (1 part red wine vinegar, 2 parts olive oil, a spoonful of dijon, salt and pepper, plus anchovy paste or chopped anchovies to taste–or leave the anchovies out if you prefer). Hard boil, peel, and halve some eggs. Boil tiny potatoes in lightly salted water, and toss in a few handfuls of green beans for the last minute of cooking. Drain both. Before they cool, toss the beans with a spoonful of dressing. Halve the warm potatoes and toss with a few more spoonfuls of dressing, some thin slices of onion, and a handful of chopped parsley. Halve a basket of cherry tomatoes and toss them with a spoonful of dressing as well. Assemble as follows: Line a platter (or individual plates) with a torn head of lightly dressed lettuce. Add one pile each of beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and flaked hot-smoked salmon (of course, this is a frilly West-Coast-fusion adaptation; you could certainly go the traditional route and use tuna instead). Top with halved hard-boiled eggs and scatter oil-cured black olives all over the place.
Emmy Cooks 
This looks delicious! Thank you.
You are so welcome! Enjoy.
That looks like such an incredible salad – I’m a little jealous.
Isn’t that a funny thing about reading food blogs? I often catch up on my reading & writing late at night and I sometimes wish I had started earlier in the day so I could jump right up and cook the things I see. :)
It looks like a lush Renaissace painting!
Funny how taking pictures outside in the daytime provides better light than on the kitchen counter after dark. :) Now that it’s getting lighter in Seattle, hopefully more of my photos will be better lit!
I have always loved the big dinner salad. And this looks great!
Seriously. Ironically, I find that salad season is one of the very rare times I wish I ate more meat, because I get a little tired of the big salad with chickpeas and sunflower seeds or black beans and cheddar. :)
That’s funny! Salad season is a great time to experiment with different proteins through. Like whitefish. I love me some whitefish.
Love composed salads! This one looks lovely. :)
Thank you!
Is that a salad or a work of art? I have friends coming to lunch on Saturday … I think I just decided what to make for them!
This is fun to make for company because it looks so nice and can be made mostly ahead of time (you can cook and dress everything in advance except for the greens). And it’s DELICIOUS!
Très Français!
I’m sure the French would disagree. ;-)
Oh I love this salad! Gorgeous – I never tire of this type of eating…looks like the first meal I ever ate in Paris (sans the salmon) :)
Really, the only thing that would improve it would be eating it in Paris. :)
Wow! What a beautiful salad. It’s inspiring to just look at it! The only time I’ve ever tried salmon salad nicoise was in provence and I still remember how delicious it was. I’m definitely going to try making this sometime this summer.
I love when I can remember the tastes of things I ate while traveling. There’s something magic about eating your way around the world, everything tastes so good in its right place!
Also! I just had to say this: I’m born in raised in the seattle-ish area but I went to UW for my first year in college before transferring. I miss the restaurants in seattle more than anything, and one of the restaurants I miss absolutely most is cafe presse. Just had to mention that since I saw it in your seattle-dining page and it made me so happy to see!
Aw–I’ll have something great for you next time I’m there. :) Hopefully you get to stop by there when you’re home on break!