Salade Niçoise à la Wok ‘n Spoon

The plan was to eat vegetables all week, leading up to our 10 day holiday in Melbourne (and 2 days in Malaysia!) but you know, I just can’t do it!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m the last person to be diet obsessed but dieting was a small price to pay. Much better than having to hear those “oh, you’ve put on weight…you look so much better now, rather than before when you were too thin” comments from my family! (I do love my family dearly!)

The only problem is that I’m sooo very very bored with salads. Plus I think all this vegetable eating is zapping me of any creativity that I had in the kitchen.

Anyway, back to the salad eating.

The Salade Niçoise is named after its origins: Nice (that’s Neece as in Fleece not Nyce) in the south of France. There are of course uncountable versions (mine included) of this salad but the basic ingredients of a Salade Niçoise include green beans, tomatoes, olives, boiled eggs and tuna. I call any salad with boiled eggs and tuna a Salade Niçoise ;-)

I was a little bored with raw vegetables so I lightly pan fried courgette, red and yellow capsicum and mushrooms for the salad. I also added one of my favourite “salady” vegetables: Mache.

Mache is one vegetable that I had never heard of or seen in Australia. Wikipedia lists its English name as “corn salad” (??). I was introduced to the mache in France and absolutely loved it. However when I first saw mache, I asked the Hubs what it was, and his reply was “some kind of salad that cows eat”! Guess that makes us cows!

I also didn’t add any tomatoes to the salad, but instead added blueberries (they’re in season!). Yes, I know, that’s a bit weird but I’m trying to make Hubs eat more blueberries (high in antioxidants).

The salad was initially just plain vegetables.

Then I thought, if I eat that, I’ll be hungry in 1 hour and end up in a bad mood, and be scouring the kitchen on the search for any hint of chocolate! So, I added the tuna and eggs!

Ingredients for Salade Niçoise à la Wok ‘n Spoon
1 courgette (lightly pan fried)
½ a red & ½ a yellow capsicum (lightly pan fried)
4 mushrooms (lightly pan fried)
2 large handfuls of mache
½ onion
¾ cup blueberries
200g canned tuna (enough for Hubs and me. I love canned tuna!)
2 boiled eggs

Sweet chilli dressing for Salade Niçoise à la Wok ‘n Spoon
(this makes enough for 2)
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp water
½ tsp sesame oil

And there you have it, another exciting salad night at Wok n’ Spoon’s!