Salmon Nicoise Salad

Mumma always said sharing is caring.

This Salmon Nicoise salad is veggie loaded, with perfectly grilled salmon and drizzled in a delicious home made dijon vinaigrette. Perfect salad for entertaining this spring. Whether it be a bbq, potluck or picnic!

Hello, this feels strange. My last blog post about Carrot Top Hummus was published on August 7th and its now September 5th. Almost a whole month and boy has it been a busy month. I generally try and post every week and have for about the past 1.5 years. So it feels like forever to me. How have you been?

I spent the past month moving from Vietnam back to NSW where my family is, spending time catching up with them and then driving all the way down to Melbourne. I lived in a car for about a week, was fun. Kinda like camping, I call it carmping. The original plan was to just move back to Australia for winter and then we came to Melbourne and feel in love all over again and are now here for at least the next 12 months.

Watch video for Salmon Nicoise Salad here:

Spring has just sprung in Australia which has me feeling all kinds of ways! Those kind of feelings are the kind like weekend bike rides, morning markets with fresh coffee and afternoons spent eating a picnic in the park. Fortunately for me I now live in a suburb that is in between two massive parks so if you need to find me you know where I’ll be.

This Salmon Nicoise Salad is perfect meal for a picnic food/bbq/potluck or just the perfect meal for spring! Just if you’re not across the road from a park like me instead of roasting the potatoes just boil them.

What is Nicoise Salad?

Originating in the town of Nice, France is a classic french vegetable loaded salad. That is usually prepared to look composed (which means everything is thoughtfully arranged) Few common ingredients in most Nicoise salads are potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, olives. If you have those base ingredients you have a salad.

My version of Nicoise Salad includes these ingredients:

• Fresh Salmon – usually nicoise is made with tuna, normally canned. I like to use salmon because not only is it delicious and adds a nice texture but it’s full of healthy omega 3s.

• Potatoes – Usually I normally just boil the potatoes but I just moved into a house with an oven after going the longest time without one and i’ve been craving roast potatoes. If you’re going to take this as leftovers I suggest just using boiled potatoes.

• Green Beans – In an ideal world you would use French Green Beans also known as haricots verts. Which are more delicate than the average green bean. If you can’t find any don’t stress it will still be just as tasty

• Olives – Again living in an ideal world you would use French Niçoise olives but these can be difficult to find. Instead use pitted kalamata olives.

• Eggs – I had actually cooked some perfect 6 minute boiled eggs to add to the salad and then forgot about them. I highly encourage you to add the egg.

• Tomatoes – Use the freshest cherry tomatoes you can find to add a tarty burst.

• Radish – I love adding radish not just for the extra pop of colour but also the pepper bite. Totally optional but I highly recommend!

• Spring greens – Frisée is the usual choice of green for this salad but I’ve chosen just a simple bag of mixed greens. You could use pretty much any green you wanted – rocket or butter lettuce is also very nice.

• Herbs – Dill and parsley add a fresh spring touch to the dish.

• Dressing – Top it all off with a big drizzle of homemade dijon vinaigrette to bring the whole salad together and add that creamy element.

Homemade Dijon Dressing

You 100% MUST make the dressing at home, this isn’t something you can buy from the store. Nothing comes close! Plus homemade is always better for two reasons. 1. You know exactly what goes into it, no fake stuff. 2. It always taste way better fresh. You’ve more than likely got all the ingredients on hand and it’s super super quick to make so you have zero excuses.

Here’s what ya’ll need:
-Olive oil
-Red wine vinegar
-Garlic, crushed
-Dijon mustard
-Salt and pepper
-Maple syrup or honey

I’d call you a liar if you told me you didn’t have those ingredients lying around your cupboards. After you have those all you have to do is add them to a bowl and mix together and you have a zingy creamy dressing.

There’s no real art to assembling the Salmon Nicoise Salad although it looks composed its more just placing ingredients down in piles on top a bed of greens and then drizzling dressing off and sprinkling on some fresh herbs.

I love to eat this fresh and warm or meal prep and it eat it cold during the week. Either way it’s delicious!

#tillyeats or TAG ME ON INSTAGRAM @TILLYEATS IF YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE, I LOVE SEEING YOUR CREATIONS!

Also if you could rate the recipe below I would be forever grateful – it makes me feel good ( yay internet points) and also helps me understand what you guys like 😛

Other Spring Salad Recipes you might enjoy:

• Soba Noodle Salad – A vegan cold Soba Noodle Salad with fresh crisp vegetables and asian style peanut sauce.
• Vietnamese Chicken Salad – Refreshing and easy Vietnamese Chicken Salad filled with raw crisp vegetables, herbs and poached chicken all drizzled in a tangy slightly spicy Nuoc Cham dressing

Still hungry? Sign up for my newsletter, or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Pinterest for more mouth-watering food!

NOTE: All images and text on this website are protected by copyright. Please do not post or republish this recipe/images without permission from me -Tilly. If you want to share this recipe, please share the link rather than the whole recipe. Thank you so much! 🙂

Mumma always said sharing is caring.