A Salad Nicoise is more commonly referred to as a Nicoise Salad with the Nicoise being pronounced as "ni-suaz". This particular salad originates from the Nice region of France and consists of a number of different ingredients the details of which we provide below. However there are some restaurants which although offer a Salad Nicoise it is not what would be considered to be the classic version. Often they will include rice, potatoes, pasta, cheese or cooked vegetables into their recipe.

The real beauty of this particular salad over many others you may have tried is in the way that it is presented. It is not only full of color and texture but flavor as well because of the ingredients that are used. Below we now provide you with details of the ingredients along with the steps that you will need to take in order to produce a great tasting and looking Nicoise Salad.

The ingredients you will need in order to make a Salad Nicoise to serve four people are as follows:- 1. 10 large and ripe tomatoes 2. 1 clove of garlic 3. 1 large cucumber 4. 1 green and one red pepper 5. 6 spring onions 6. 12 anchovy fillets which are in olive oil 7. 125g of black olives 8. 4 eggs that have been hard boiled 9. 90ml of olive oil (extra virgin is best) 10. 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar 11. Juice of one lemon 12. Assorted salad leaves (cos, rocket etc) plus a small amount of fresh Basil. Now let us go through the steps you will need to take in order to make your Salad Nicoise.

Step 1 - You should take the tomatoes and cut them into six pieces each and then put this on a dish before sprinkling with a little salt. Doing this will help to remove some of the excess juices in the tomatoes which could cause the salad to become soggy and limp. Whilst you are preparing the tomatoes it is good idea to also get the eggs ready. In order to get good hard boiled eggs you should aim to leave them in the boiling water for around 5 minutes.

Step 2 - You need to take the cucumber and cut it along the length and then scoop out as many of the seeds as you can with a spoon. Now you next need to cut the cucumber, which has not been peeled into slices, but you should not make them to thin. After slicing up the cucumber, you next need to then finely slice both the peppers along with the spring onions.

Step 3 - The next step is to take the garlic clove and cut this in half before rubbing it around the insides of the bowl or bowls you are using to present the salad in. If you can use wooden bowls rather than metal, plastic or china as it retains the flavor of the garlic far better.

Step 4 - Once you have rubbed the bowl with the garlic clove now you can start to take the ingredients and place them into it. First off get the salad leaves (which you will have washed and removed any excess water from) and lay these in the bottom of the bowl(s). Next on top of the leaves you lay the tomatoes followed by the eggs which have been cut into quarters. After the eggs you now need to lay on the slices of cucumber, spring onions and peppers and then on top of these you lay the anchovy fillets before you scatter over the olives.

Step 5 - The final thing you need to do before you can serve the Salad Nicoise to family or guests is make the dressing. In order to do this you take the lemon juice, olive oil and red wine vinegar and place in a bowl or jar before adding a small amount of freshly ground black pepper and salt to season. Once all the ingredients are together mix until well combined and then very slowly drizzle it over the salad. Finally take the fresh basil leaves and tear them up into pieces and sprinkle over the top of the salad. It really is that simple to make a great tasting Nicoise Salad.