What a beautiful summer bounty.
A post from Carolyn. Following Ree Drummond’s recipe for this wasn’t quite going to work for me – – as I needed to change in/out a few things. Believe it or not, I couldn’t find green beans that day. Really? So asparagus had to work. Salmon I bought at Costco, multi-colored cherry tomatoes I had; hard boiled eggs are always in my frig as well as Kalamata olives. And Romaine too. All I did was change the salad dressing from Ree’s bottled dressing with a few add-ins, to one of my favorite Caesar dressings, the Caesar Caper Parmesan that uses mayo as the base. That recipe came from Phillis Carey, many, many years ago. Only thing I did this time was add a tetch of anchovy paste, which amped-up the full-bodied garlicky flavor of the dressing.
What fun I had making this. I’d invited four women who used to work for me, decades ago, at the ad agency I co-owned. I’d been part of the hiring of each of them, and one of my jobs, always, was training new hires. We also FaceTime(d) with another one who currently lives in Arizona, and it had been about 20 years since I’d been in touch with her. We told so many stories, shared so many laughs. It was a warm day and serving a salad was a given. I’d watched Pioneer Woman make a similar one. So I used her base recipe as the start.
For me, I prepped most of the ingredients the day before – the asparagus, the hard boiled eggs, the tomatoes, even the Romaine lettuce that I carefully cut into 1/3-cut wedges. I made the dressing, cooked the potatoes (although you’ll notice, I forgot to put them on the platter – geez!), chopped the Italian parsley. The day of – an hour or so before – I roasted the salmon. It’s put onto a baking sheet lined with foil, sprayed with EVOO, salt and pepper and baked for a mere 10 minutes at 425°F. Once cooled, I forked it into small to mid-sized flakes.
Digging out the largest platter I own (it’s really big, usually used for Thanksgiving turkey) I began composing the salad. I placed the Romaine down first, then began adding the colorful parts around the sides, with salmon at one end and eggs at the other. Then I plopped globs of dressing down the center of the Romaine and sprinkled it all with Italian parsley. Done. What this salad isn’t is a true Nicoise, which must contain green beans, and usually uses canned tuna (you can order Nicoise at most French cafes any day of the week). And potatoes are included, plus some kind of Mediterranean olive, usually Kalamata, but could be other types too. And it’s usually done with a vinaigrette of some kind. Not Caesar.
Same salad, this time with ahi tuna, seared quickly, green beans, asparagus, hard boiled eggs, more tomatoes plus avocadoes.
This salad was a real winner. For sure. The picture above is the same meal, but made with ahi tuna – very quickly seared with just a little rub of EVOO, salt and pepper. Since this was a dinner, I used halved Romaine hearts (for a bit more lettuce on each serving). This time I did have green beans, and I had sufficient salad dressing left over to serve it. No potatoes since I try to do less carbs. It made for another lovely, colorful platter of food which was almost all polished off in one sitting. The tiny bit of leftovers I had for lunch the next day. Yum. I bought one pound of fresh ahi, seared it in my stovetop grill pan for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side, then sliced thinly with a very sharp straight-edged knife.
What’s GOOD: everything about this was good, in my book. The dressing was perfect for the lively flavors (salmon or ahi, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, even asparagus). Loved how beautiful the platter came out – it’s a stunner! Most everything can be done the day before which makes for easy plating.
What’s NOT: does require a moderate amount of prep work (cooking green beans or asparagus, potatoes, hard boiled eggs, even the salmon (the ahi was extra-simple to do), also cutting the tomatoes, pitting olives if you need to do that – I buy pitted ones – and carefully cutting the Romaine into 1/3 wedges), packaging everything up until the right moment to plate and serve. But worth the trouble. Everything except the salmon (or ahi) and cutting avocadoes can be done the day ahead.
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Salmon Nicoise Caesar
Recipe By: Adapted from Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman
Serving Size: 4
12 ounces Yukon gold potatoes — baby sized, traditional, but optional
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces green beans — or asparagus
1 pound salmon fillet — skinned (can also be made with seared ahi tuna)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lemon — zested and juiced
3/4 cup Caesar Caper Parmesan Dressing (below)
2 hearts Romaine lettuce — whole, cut in third/wedges and cored
4 hard-boiled eggs — cooled, peeled and halved
2 cups cherry tomatoes — halved lengthways
1/4 cup Kalamata olives — or other Mediterranean olive of your choice
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese — grated, for garnish
parsley leaves — for garnish
CAESAR CAPER PARM DRESSING:
4 whole garlic cloves
1 cup mayonnaise — Best Foods
2 1/2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon capers — heaping, drained
1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste — or more if you like the flavor
2 1/2 tablespoons EVOO
1 1/4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1. Boil the potatoes in a pot of salted water until tender, about 10 minutes, then halve and set aside to cool.
2, Cook the green beans or asparagus in a small pot of boiling salted water for 2-4 minutes, then remove and plunge into ice water. Drain and pat dry. Set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with foil. Put the salmon on the prepared baking sheet, skin-side down. Brush with the olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the salmon and set aside to cool slightly, then flake into large chunks with a fork.
4. Make the dressing: Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl – start with the anchovy paste to make sure it is dispersed, then mix well.
6. Arrange the Romaine wedges in the middle of a very large platter. Group the green beans, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, olives and salmon on top and around the lettuces. Spoon globs of the dressing on the Romaine wedges. Garnish with Parmesan and parsley leaves. Serve with more dressing at the table.
Per Serving (assumes you use all the dressing): 704 Calories; 38g Fat (47.0% calories from fat); 42g Protein; 55g Carbohydrate; 17g Dietary Fiber; 284mg Cholesterol; 776mg Sodium; 18g Total Sugars; 1mcg Vitamin D; 319mg Calcium; 10mg Iron; 2444mg Potassium; 667mg Phosphorus.
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