Salade Nicoise Americaine
While the term SAD very appropriately describes the unhealthy Standard American Diet of nutrient-depleted, heavily-processed foods (so-called), there is abundant goodness to be had for little extra effort or expense.
Here’s a primal, seasonal all-American version of the venerable French Salade Niçoise..
Salade Niçoise Américaine
Prepare hard-cooked pastured eggs. Cool and set aside.
Take a thin slice off the North and South poles of a large, ripe heirloom tomato. Scoop out a little of the flesh from the center and place the tomato in a heavy skillet. Chop the remaining flesh, tops and bottoms and set aside.
Lightly drizzle the tomato with virgin olive oil, season with sea salt and freshly-cracked pepper and roast in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes to intensify the flavor. Set aside.
Meanwhile, combine US Pacific pole-caught albacore tuna in a bowl with plenty of raw olive oil, organic pitted black olives, sliced scallions, diced roasted red peppers and flat-leaf parsley. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
Prepare a salad of mixed field greens and herbs and toss with a little white balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
To assemble, place tomato in center of dinner plate and mound over with tuna mixture. Arrange salad around the perimeter and garnish with quartered eggs and a variety of made-at-home sprouts.
This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
Cage Free Family said,
September 4, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Love it! Primal is a very good description. Yummy.
I think I might make this tonight.
That Zuni chicken, bread salad meal you served me… is that on here? We Zuni a chicken once a week and I’d love to make it.
Ren said,
September 4, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Thanks!
Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad http://ediblearia.com/2009/02/10/zuni-roast-chicken-with-bread-salad/
Cage Free Family said,
September 4, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Do you know where I can find a listing of the average mercury content of each kind of fish? For instance, I understand that pole-caught tuna is lower in mercury than long-line/trolled tuna, but where does it rank compared to something like Wlid Alaskan Salmon?
Ren said,
September 4, 2009 at 3:11 pm
It can vary a lot, but Pacific Pole-caught tuna (young, small fish) has something less than 0.10 ppm compared with Wild Alaskan Salmon at something like 0.015 ppm
The two most common kinds of fish in US supermarkets, Atlantic farmed salmon and orange roughy, are also two of the most toxic and environmentally destructive.
1. Get this PDF http://neilbanas.com/seafood-guide-2009.pdf
2. You can view the amount of mercury in parts-per-million for many species in the Mercury Calculator drop-down list at http://www.gotmercury.org/article.php?list=type&type=75
3. And double-check at http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx and http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521&redirect=seafood
Don’t forget that Canadian standards are much more stringent than ours, and beware fake consumer sites like tunafacts.org
CageFree said,
September 4, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Awesome! Thanks!
CageFree said,
September 4, 2009 at 8:53 pm
We made a variation of your Liver & Onions again tonight and I have to say that I think it is the official family favorite (6 & 2 yr old included)! This week we had Cast Iron Skillet Steak, Zuni Roasted Chicken, Rosemary Sweet Potato Lasagna and a few other truly great meals and the Liver and Onions still stood out as an amazingly satisfying, comforting, tasty superior to it all.
I think we’ll be making it once a week from now on.
Soaking it in milk and lemon juice seems to make a big flavor difference. Thanks!
Ren said,
September 4, 2009 at 9:05 pm
That is so good to hear, especially that the kids like it. You are talking about the (not your average) Liver and Onions recipe, yes?
Thanks!
CageFree said,
September 4, 2009 at 11:15 pm
yup, that’s the one!
Tuesday Twister « Edible Aria said,
September 8, 2009 at 9:20 pm
[...] Salade Niçoise Américaine A primal, seasonal all-American version of the venerable French Salade [...]
Food Renegade » Blog Archive » Fight Back Friday Sept 4th said,
September 10, 2009 at 8:35 pm
[...] Edible Aria – Salade Nicoise Americaine24. Daily DIner (Sweet Potato Chips)25. Melissa Graham26. Little Locavores (To Warm the Bones)27. [...]