Shrimp Nicoise Salad

This salad occurred last week. And it occurred le big.

Have you ever nicoised your pants off before?

UGH, before we continue, I can’t figure out how to make that little hooky thing under the c in nicoise. Ya know what I’m talking about? That little hook? It’s like a little crow bar? Half of an s? An upside down question mark? An elf slipper? I Googled it for an entire 7 seconds and NONETH SEEMETH TO KNOWETH.

Whatever.

Do you want to know why I think they call this a Nicoise Salad? No, no. Hear me out. I think it’s because it’s referring to how nice it is in NICE, FRANCE. No listen. It’s a very nice tasting salad, and since it’s FROM Nice, France, they called it Nicoise because of . . . how nice it tastes, because it’s spelled the same. As Nice. France. And it’s nice to eat. Just like Nice, France.

That’s what I think.

Now I don’t know what nice means anymore.

Whatever.

I’m totally in love with this salad. I made it for dinner for myself last week when my husband was on some work trip in Timbuktu. OMG it’s like the perfect mix of textures and flavors and colors, oh my. (sorry) I did some reading on this salad before I winged (wang? ew, no) my own version, and on one internet website URL I read that the potatoes aren’t totally authentic. But then I read on some other internet website URL that they ARE authentic. Uhhhh, okay.

My mouth went le uh huh direction.

 

And okay, the dressing. I read that the REAL way to do it is to arrange anchovies over the salad. WELL, me nots got none. But I DID have some anchovy PASTE in le fridgeroo, so I made up my own version with that, garlic, some oil, mustard and red wine vinegar. DUDES, I’m basically French.

I seriously cannot TAYELL you how le pimp this salad is. Lil’ bit of hard boiled egg, some blanched green beans, roasted taters, seared shrimpies, sliced olives, some dehydrated maters, and that le sumo-wrestle-you-in-the-face anchovy dressing all over a bed of crisp romaineeeeeeeeeuuuuugggggghhhhh.

 

Put your thing down.

Flip it.

And reverse it.

Shrimp Nicoise Salad:

What it took for 1 salad:

* 5 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
* 6 small purple potatoes, halved or quartered
* 10-15 green beans
* 1 tsp red wine vinegar
* 1 tsp anchovy paste
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 tsp dijon mustard
* 8 extra-large shrimp, peeled and deveined
* 1 egg
* 1/4 cup kalamata olives, halved or left whole
* 1/4 cup dehydrated tomatoes (or halved cherry tomatoes)
* 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce

Preheat oven to 400.

Toss the potatoes with 1 Tbs. oil and arrange them on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes.

Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Add the egg, put the lid on, turn off the heat and let it sit on the burner for 12 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the egg to an ice bath. Peel, then roughly chop the hard boiled egg.

Bring the water back to a boil and add the green beans for 1 minute, or until they pop in color. Transfer the beans to the same ice bath that the egg was in. PLANET SAVING.

In a small skillet, add another Tbs. oil and sear the shrimp on both sides, seasoning with salt and pepper, 3 minutes total. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the meantime, combine 3 Tbs. oil, anchovy paste, garlic, red wine vinegar and mustard in a small food processor. Blitz until smooth. If you need to add a little more oil to the dressing, don’t, unless you want your home to be haunted by angry spirits for the next 25 years. Kidding! Add it.

Arrange the lettuce greens on a plate. Top with roasted potatoes, diced egg, green beans, tomatoes, olives and seared shrimp. Drizzle with anchovy dressing and die from le bliss.

* I made this for myself whilst le hubs was gawn, so double or triple or quadruple or fivetuplet it for more faces that eat.

ps: we’re getting an ikea!

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28 Responses to Shrimp Nicoise Salad

  1. Vita @ Juicer Depot October 1, 2012 at 7:48 am #
    I wish I could just reach in my computer and grab one of those shrimp. Mmmm Yummy looking salad.
  2. the 3volution of j3nn October 1, 2012 at 7:51 am #
    I've never had a nicoise salad but they appeal to me so much because I love salads with variety. This is the first shrimp nicoise i have seen and it looks very, very NICE! :)
  3. Tracey Evans October 1, 2012 at 8:07 am #
    I love this! I don't eat nicoise salad much, but I wil now!!! Wonderful photos Bev! :)
  4. Villy @ For the love of Feeding October 1, 2012 at 8:25 am #
    It looks so appetizing!
  5. Ali | Gimme Some Oven October 1, 2012 at 8:26 am #
    Love those little purple potatoes! This looks delightful!!
  6. Katie October 1, 2012 at 8:29 am #
    I like the direction you went regarding those little purrrrple potatoes.
  7. Brian @ A Thought For Food October 1, 2012 at 10:12 am #
    I could eat nicoise salads every single day and never get tired of it. It contains some of my favorite ingredients... and you've made it even better with the shrimp!
  8. Cassie October 1, 2012 at 10:34 am #
    Love the purple potatoes! Drooling over here!
  9. Daniela @ FoodRecipesHQ October 1, 2012 at 11:24 am #
    Looks so yummy!
  10. Katy Morgan October 1, 2012 at 12:44 pm #
    I think they ARE actually referred to as "elf slippers." If you have a Mac (and I think we shouldn't see each other any more if you don't), just hold down the letter until a little pop-up appears. If you don't have a Mac, you're on your own.
  11. Katie @ Blonde Ambition October 1, 2012 at 1:16 pm #
    I speak fluent French and I can't for the life of me even remember what the little hook thing on the C is called. Anyhoo, when I lived in France I refused to eat Salade Niçoise or Sandwich Niçoise because I can't handle tuna....so I'm glad you hath imparted this shrimp version to me! (problem solved BTdubs, now you can just copy and paste the c curly cue from this comment!)
    • Bev Weidner October 1, 2012 at 1:22 pm #
      Wait, how did you get the little elf slipper to appear?! What did you do?
      • Katie @ Blonde Ambition October 2, 2012 at 1:00 pm #
        I have an add-on on my Firefox where I can switch the spell-check to French (right click or alt+click into a text box and there should be an option that says "add dictionaries") So when I type "Nicoise" with the French dictionary enabled, it gives me the little red squigglies and lets me change it to the correct spelling!
  12. Heather @ Heather's Dish October 1, 2012 at 1:56 pm #
    OK. just googled this because it's clearly the most important thing i'll do today: did you know that the weird part in "Work It" is just "I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it" backwards? Because now that I know that I think my day is complete :)
  13. claire @ the realistic nutritionist October 1, 2012 at 2:02 pm #
    YES YES YES YES.
  14. Kristen October 1, 2012 at 2:23 pm #
    Can I please just start coming over to your house for lunch? I just had a bowl of stale cherrios. Not feeling quite good about that.
  15. kale October 1, 2012 at 3:54 pm #
    check you out all classy-class with the shrimp nicoise salad! gorgeous, as usual. p.s. purple potatoes are pretty.
  16. Megan @ Country Cleaver October 1, 2012 at 7:59 pm #
    I don't care which way you winged/wanged/chunged this salad - I need a backhoe. Not a shovel.
  17. Julie @ Table for Two October 1, 2012 at 8:45 pm #
    NIÇOISE! ya!!!! i did it!! i cheated cause i saw your fb status LOL :)
  18. Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious October 1, 2012 at 11:16 pm #
    Will you come over and make this for lunch for me, please?! :)
  19. Adriana @ FoodCocktail October 2, 2012 at 3:27 am #
    This is the first Nicoise salad with shrimp that I see! I love this salad also, but I make it only with the veggies and the boiled eggs. But I suppose those little shrimps make it 10 times more awesome than it already is.
  20. Sues October 2, 2012 at 9:02 am #
    What a stunningly beautiful salad!! I agree that it's quite NICE!!
  21. Fiona October 9, 2012 at 4:45 pm #
    The c with a 5 is called a "cé cédille". You basically use it when you want the "c" to make an "s" sound when it is placed in front of "a", "o", or "u".
  22. Bill April 22, 2015 at 2:32 am #
    In Windows Word or WordPad, to make the cé cédille, try typing Ctrl+, then upper or lower case c. I'm sure there are other ways too.
  23. http://www./ January 9, 2017 at 12:26 pm #
    As dmank1lla said nigel, anyone can spurt out the specs of a pc Well done for proving that point lol.I’ll send you a message on psn tomorrow VN:F [1.9.17_1161](from 0 votes)
  24. http://www./ January 19, 2017 at 9:31 am #
    I am sure between the two of us we can find something suitable. I am slightly worried about this tendency to associate you with pictures of the scantily clad but I am sure the other gentlemen of the blog appreciate it!

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

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