SERVES 4
This salad is one of my favorite things, as it contains a few of my heroes: beans, tuna, anchovies, and eggs. I am also partial to the radishes, olives, spuds, and arugula. Maybe I am Niçoise myself, but this underlines a great point: Salads can have all of your favorite ingredients, so use a lot of them, but sparingly and in balance for harmony.
⅓ cup sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
⅔ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
½ pound baby red potatoes, halved
4 large eggs
½ pound green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound tuna steak, cut into 4 (1-inch-thick) pieces
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups arugula
1 cup pitted black olives
1 bunch radishes, trimmed and sliced
12 anchovy fillets, rinsed
Combine the vinegar and mustard until smooth, then slowly whisk in the olive oil to create an emulsion. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside one-third of the vinaigrette to serve tableside in a little pitcher and place the remainder in a large bowl.
Bring a 6-quart pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons of salt. Add the potatoes and cook until tender but not falling apart, about 10 minutes. Remove the potatoes with a spider (leaving the water boiling) and let cool, then cut into ½-inch pieces. Set up an ice bath. Place the eggs in the boiling water and cook for 4½ minutes, then transfer to the ice bath, let cool, and peel.
Set a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat and get it very hot. Toss the beans with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and put them in the pan, spreading them as flat as possible. Cook the beans without moving them for 2 minutes. Then cook, stirring the beans around as if for a stir-fry, for another minute. Transfer the beans to a plate and set aside.
Brush the tuna with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Add the tuna to the skillet and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until rare. Transfer to a plate and let rest.
Slice the tuna into ¼-inch-thick slices. Cut the boiled eggs in half and sprinkle the yolks with coarse salt and set aside.
Place the cooked potatoes, beans, arugula, and olives in the bowl with the vinaigrette and toss gently to coat. Lay the vegetable mixture on a nice platter, arrange the tuna, radishes, salted eggs, and anchovy fillets over the top, and serve.