GOOD 'N' CHEAP EATS
Mediterranean Summer Salad
Hot summer days call for meals that are hearty but lite and chocked full of the fresh vegetables and herbs that are so plentiful this time of the year. Here is a variation of a Salad Nicoise that uses as a substitute, pasta for red potatoes. Bon Apetit!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups cooked dried pasta
- Blanched fresh green beans
- 6 oz water-packed tuna or grilled fresh tuna if available
- 6-8 grape tomatoes or 3 large plum tomatoes, cut into halves
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and sliced
- Small bunch of fresh basil leaves
- 2-3 oz. anchovy fillets, drained
- Black Olives
- Capers, to taste
Dressing:
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp. white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Technique:
For the dressing, whisk all ingredients in a medium glass or stainless steel bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For the salad, drain pasta, blanch green beans and trim, slice tomatoes and begin arranging in a large shallow salad bowl. Begin by arranging a bed of tomatoes on the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle a little of the salad dressing over the tomatoes and sprinkle a little salt and pepper. Add several leaves of the basil on top of the dressing and tomatoes and follow up with pasta that has been tossed with a little of the dressing. Add tuna on top of this along with additional basil, tuna, green beans and anchovies. Drizzle remainder of the dressing over the salad and garnish with basil leaves.
How good is that...
