A Great Way to Make a Main Dish Salad with Your Garden Veggies - Nicoise Salmon Salad

   It's amazing how much you can grow in such a small space!  I don't have a big garden like my grandma did on her Pennsylvanian farm, but I've been having fun with it.  This spring I planted bush beans, beets, squash, onions, chard, lettuce, and tomatoes.  You should have seen all the beans I got off my few bushes two days ago!  And if you look at the picture you can see they were pretty hefty.

    My tomatoes are just starting to ripen; so I only got to use some of them in this salad.  The thing I am happy the most about is how my lettuce has done this year.  I have been in competition with the neighborhood rabbits the past few years, but this year my husband put a chicken wire fence around it to keep them out.  The lettuce started to grow back, and it's been great to add it to salads and sandwiches. 

I'm also growing parsley, sage, rosemary, basil, and oregano so  I have fresh spices readily available for my cooking.  This recipe for Nicoise salmon salad comes from my Heritage School cookbook.  I've made this salad on both a platter for a large group and in individual salad bowls for lunch.

Nicoise Salmon Salad

1.  Prepare vegetables - These are for both the salad and the dressing:
(1)  Scrub 4 potatoes and cut them in wedges and steam them until tender about 15 minutes.
(2)  Wash and snap enough green beans to make 3 cups--I only had enough for 1 1/2 cups. Add them on top of the potatoes about 5 minutes after they've been cooking.
(3)  Wash enough lettuce to line a serving platter.
(4)  Cut 2 whole tomatoes into 8 wedges or slice as many cherry tomatoes as you would like in half.
(5)  Chop 2 T of green onions for the dressing. (I like green onions so I'm going to scatter a few sliced onions over the top of the salad when I'm arranging it on the platter.)
(6)  Chop 2 T of fresh parsley for the dressing.

2.  Make the Italian dressing - 
(1)  Put a package of Simply Organic Italian dressing into a cruet.
(2)  Add 2 T red wine vinegar and 1/3 cup of water.  Then whisk in 2/3 cup olive oil.  
(3)  Add the green onions and parsley from above, 1/2 tsp. of dill, and 1/4 tsp. of garlic salt. (I'm using a clove of minced garlic instead), 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.  
(4)  Taste and make any flavor adjustments.

3.  Marinade vegetables:
(1)  Put the steamed potatoes into a bowl and pour 1/4 cup of the Italian dressing over them. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
(2)  In another bowl put the green beans and put 1/4 cup of Italian dressing over them.

4.  Hard boil 3 eggs and then quarter them when cool.

5.  Assemble salad - On a serving platter place or in separate bowls:
(1)  Line the platter with the lettuce leaves as mentioned above.
(2)  Spoon potatoes into the center.
(3)  Arrange salmon from a 16 oz can over the potatoes.
(4)  Spoon the green beans so they make a ring around the potatoes.
(5)  Alternately place tomato wedges and eggs around the outside edge of the platter on the ends of the lettuce.
(6)   Drizzle remaining dressing over the salad.  Keep some to pass around.

Nisoise Salmon Salad Served on a Platter

Nicoise Salmon Salad served in Salad Bowls

List of Other Salads on this Blog:

Greens/cabbage:
Gluten Free Chinese Chicken Cabbage Salad   (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
Baja Salad with Black Beans & Quinoa  (A remake from something I ate at a restaurant)
Make it Yourself Thai Peanut Dressing for Mandarin Salad  (My friend Judi's recipe)
KFC Copycat Cole Slaw   (A friend shared this with me)
Mexican Grilled Salmon & Mango Salad   (From a Betty Crocker summer cookbook)
Belizean Coleslaw    (From Internet search)

Pasta:

Tasty Gluten Free Pasta Salad  (Something I picked up over 20 years ago!)
Vietnamese Vermicelli Salad Bowls   (From an Internet search)

Vegetable:
Jeremy D's Sensational Greek Salad   (My son-in-law's recipe)

Grandma's Perfect Potato Salad   (Family recipe)
Rose's Refreshing Cucumber Salad   (From a Chinese friend)
A Great BBQ side Salad - Curried Pea Salad  (From my church cookbook, Come & Dine)

Fruit:
Grandma Marilyn's Frozen Fruit Salad  (My mother-in-law's recipe)