A salade nicoise looks incredibly fashionable for the amount of effort required to prepare it. Adding hot smoked salmon, mussels or smoked chicken or even pastrami creates a great main course salad.

Ingredients

• 500 grams baby new potatoes, washed
• about 350-400 grams cooked smoked salmon
• 1 buttercrunch lettuce, washed and shaken dry
• 250 grams green beans, blanched
• 3 tomatoes, sliced or diced
• 3-4 canned artichokes, halved
• 1 handful of black olives
• a few capers
• ¼ cup basil or parsley leaves
• Dressing
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
• ½ cup of your favourite vinaigrette

Method

1. Gently boil the potatoes until tender. Cool and halve. Flake the smoked fish into chunky pieces.
2. On a platter, arrange the lettuce leaves, scatter over green beans and potatoes, tomatoes, smoked fish and artichokes.
3. Finish with olives, capers and basil or parsley leaves and drizzle with the dressing just before serving. Accompany with hot grilled bread, if wished.

Cooks Tips

- New potatoes have a waxy texture and the most delicious summer morsels are Jersey Bennies. New potatoes arrive on our shelves in September and finish up around February.

- Frozen beans can be substituted for fresh beans.

- Cos lettuce is the most common lettuce used for a salade noicoise, but you can use whatever is to hand.

- For the kids, smoked salmon, artichokes and capers are not often on the menu. Make a salad wrap and fill with freshly grilled bacon or ham so they can eat and play at the same time.

Variations:

- Pan-fry thick slices of salami until crispy and scatter these over the salad before serving.

- Use leftover cold roast meats like chicken, pork or lamb.

- For a vegetarian option use crumbled feta in place of the salmon. Alternatively, pan-fry diced tofu in oil and garlic and scatter over the top.