Salad Niçoise

Salade niçoise

Traditional version served at a French Riviera restaurant
Type	Salad
Place of origin	France
Main ingredients	Tomatoes, tuna or anchovies, egg

Salade niçoise (French pronunciation: ​[niˈswaz]), la salada nissarda in the Niçard dialect of the Occitan language, is a salad that originated in the French city of Nice. It is traditionally made of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, anchovies, and dressed with olive oil. It has been popular worldwide since the early 20th century, and has been prepared and discussed by many famous chefs. Delia Smith called it "one of the best combinations of salad ingredients ever invented" and Gordon Ramsay said that "it must be the finest summer salad of all."

It can be served either as a composed salad or as a tossed salad. Freshly cooked or canned tuna may be used. For decades, there has been significant disagreement between traditionalists and innovators regarding which ingredients should and should not be included in a salade niçoise. According to traditionalists, it excludes cooked vegetables. The salad may include raw red peppers, shallots, artichoke hearts and other seasonal raw vegetables. Raw green beans harvested in the spring, when they are still young and crisp, may be included. However, cooked green beans and potatoes are commonly served in variations of salade niçoise that are popular around the world.

The version known in Nice in the late 19th century was a basic combination of tomatoes, anchovies and olive oil, described as "simple food for poor people". Over time, other fresh and mostly raw ingredients were added to the salad as served in Nice. A 1903 recipe by Henri Heyraud in a book called La Cuisine à Nice included tomatoes, anchovies, artichokes, olive oil, red peppers and black olives, but excluded tuna and lettuce. The dressing included olive oil, vinegar, mustard and fines herbes.