On Sat, 04 Apr 2009 14:57:42 GMT, blake murphy
> wrote:

>On Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:54:16 -0600, Omelet wrote:
>
>> In article >,
>> Becca > wrote:
>>
>>> Tomorrow, I am having a visitor over for lunch and my mind is blank.
>>> All I can think to serve is chicken salad. Too boring?
>>>
>>> Becca
>>
>> You can do a LOT with chicken salad!
>
>if you feel it's not elegant enough, you could make hoity-toity tea
>sandwiches. ra-ther!
>
The subject of pickled beans came up in ba.food... which made me think
of Salade Nicoise. I've actually eaten it with seared tuna (instead
of canned tuna) the way it's pictured here and it's delicious
http://frenchfood.about.com/od/salads/r/tunanicoise.htm


Salade Niçoise
From: Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, by Julia Child.

Of all main-course salads, the Niçoise is my all-time favorite, with
its fresh butter-lettuce foundation; its carefully cooked, beautifully
green beans; its colorful contrast of halved hard-boiled eggs, ripe
red tomatoes, and black olives; all fortified by chunks of tuna fish
and freshly opened anchovies. It's a perfect luncheon dish, to my
mind, winter, summer, spring, and fall — an inspired combination that
pleases everyone.

Ingredients:

1 large head Boston-lettuce leaves, washed and dried
1 pound green beans, cooked and refreshed
1-1/2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/2 to 2/3 cup basic vinaigrette
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 or 4 ripe red tomatoes, cut into wedges (or 10 to 12 cherry
tomatoes, halved)
3 or 4 "boiling" potatoes, peeled, sliced, and cooked
Two 3-ounce cans chunk tuna, preferably oil-packed
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
1 freshly opened can of flat anchovy fillets
1/3 cup small black Niçoise-type olives
2 to 3 tablespoons capers
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Instructions:

Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large platter or in a shallow bowl.
Shortly before serving, toss the beans with the shallots, spoonfuls of
vinaigrette, and salt and pepper. Baste the tomatoes with a spoonful
of vinaigrette. Place the potatoes in the center of the platter and
arrange a mound of beans at either end, with tomatoes and small mounds
of tuna at strategic intervals. Ring the platter with halves of
hard-boiled eggs, sunny side up, and curl an anchovy on top of each.
Spoon more vinaigrette over all; scatter on olives, capers, and
parsley, and serve.

Yield: Serves 6


--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.