Winter Niçoise Salad is a seasonal, vegetarian twist on a classic French recipe! Made with sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, this salad is cozy and filling while still being light and refreshing. It’s also full with protein thanks to the jammy hard-boiled eggs! Best of all, this recipe is completely customizable, so you can add or subtract anything you’d like to!
First, let’s talk about the original Niçoise salad. According to official American ambassador to French cuisine, the queen herself, Julia Child, the traditional Salade Niçoise contains:
- Green Beans
- Tomatoes
- Lettuce
- Potato Salad
- Tuna
- Olives
- Hard-boiled Eggs
- Anchovies
- Herbs
- French Vinaigrette
I’m not a strict vegetarian anymore, but I don’t get particularly excited about canned tuna. And besides, you can get tons of briny, pungent flavor from olives anyways! So for this Winter Niçoise Salad, I opted for vegetarian AND in-season ingredients. I rarely buy tomatoes out of season, so I just skipped them. And I used starchy sunchokes, aka Jerusalem artichokes, instead of regular potatoes for a fun swap. For the dressing, I also did a little spin on Julia Child’s French vinaigrette recipe, that’s made entirely from pantry ingredients. If you’d rather take the mustard route for the dressing here, try my Spicy Honey Mustard Vinaigrette!
While this recipe has a bunch of moving elements, none of them are difficult. The salad greens and green olives are put in as-is, which just leaves you to steam the green beans and boil the eggs until the yolks are jammy – both of which can be done while you roast the sunchokes. Easy peasy! And this salad is elegant enough to serve at dinner parties, where you can wow your guests with your take on French Cuisine! Enjoy!
For more delicious, flavorful salads, try my Mediterranean Dense Bean Salad, Marry Me Chickpea Salad, or my Asparagus Caesar Salad!
Winter Niçoise Salad
Ingredients
Roasted Sunchokes
- 1/2 Lb Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes)
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- Black Pepper to taste
Vinaigrette (will like make more than you need)
- 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp Freshly-Squeezed Lemon Juice or more, to taste
- 1/2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/2 Tsp Dried Thyme
- 1/4 Tsp Salt or more, to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
The Rest of the Salad
- 1/2 Lb Haricots Verts (Green Beans) trimmed
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Cup Green or Castelvetrano Olives
- 6 Cups Mesclun Greens
Instructions
- To begin, preheat your oven to 425. While the oven is heating, wash and scrub the sunchokes to remove any dirt, then dry well. Cut the sunchokes in half, then toss with the olive oil, salt, and black pepper to taste.
- On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, bake the sunchokes for 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through. They should be just browned on the outside and fork-tender without being mushy.
- While the sunchokes are baking, steam your haricots verts (green beans) in a steamer for 5-7 minutes, until tender yet still slightly firm. (Some green beans come in bags that can be steamed in the microwave – you can do this too IF your bag says so.)
- For the eggs, bring a pot of hot water to boil. Once the water is boiling, carefully add in the whole eggs in their shells. Boil for 7 minutes, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl of ice water to cool. Once they've cooled, peel off the shell and cut the eggs in half or quarters. The yolks should be jammy and not fully cooked.
- For the olives, strain them from the jar or can (but save the olive juice for martinis!) and set aside until ready to serve.
- To make the vinaigrette, add all of the vinaigrette ingredients to a bowl and whisk until everything is combined. Taste, and adjust seasonings to your preference.
- To build the salad, add the mesclun greens to a large bowl or platter. Layer on the green beans, roasted sunchokes, eggs, and olives. Drizzle everything with the vinaigrette. Or, keep the vinaigrette on the side so your guests can serve themselves.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Winter Niçoise Salad FAQs
Why is it called Salade Niçoise?
Niçoise means from Nice, France – similar to how we would call someone from Canada, a Canadian. The recipe originates from Nice, a city on the French Riviera. Because Nice is on the Mediterranean coast, close to Italy, you’ll find some crossover between Italian and French cuisines in this region. The use of tomatoes is more common in the south of France, and you can thank the nearby Mediterranean for the classic additions of anchovies and tuna!
How do you pronounce Niçoise salad?
You pronounce Niçoise as nee-SWAZ, with the “nee” rhyming with “see”. The cedille accent on the letter “c” (ç) turns the consonant into a soft one rather than a hard “c” (like the “ck” in “flock”).
Did Julia Child invent the Niçoise salad?
No, she did not! The Niçoise salad was up and running in Nice, France long before she lived there. The first recorded recipe of the Salad Niçoise can be attributed to Henry Heyraud, who wrote it down in 1903. However, Julia Child did help introduce many iconic French dishes, this salad included, to an American audience.
What are Jerusalem artichokes / sunchokes?
Sunchokes, also called Jerusalem artichokes, sunroots, or wild sunflowers, are the root-like tubers of the Helianthus Tuberosus plant. Helianthus is botanically the sunflower family of plants, so the sunchoke plant looks much like a sunflower. Visually, the sunchokes themselves look like small, irregular potatoes or ginger roots.
What do sunchokes taste like?
Sunchokes taste a bit nutty, sweet, and earthy. I personally think they taste like a potato/beet/radish hybrid.
How much fiber is in sunchokes?
According to the USDA, 1 cup of sunchokes contains 2.4g of fiber. However, the type of fiber they contain is called inulin, which can cause bloating for some people. If you’re sensitive to fiber, I highly recommend eating a smaller portion of sunchokes until you can determine how you tolerate them.
P.S.
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