French Bean Nicoise Salad with Grilled Sweet Potato
This recipe has the best of the two worlds, crunchy green beans and warmth of the sweet potatoes dressed with the refreshing French Nicoise dressing.
Ingredients
- 350 g mixed green and yellow beans
- ½ baguette
- 12 black olives (stone in)
- 3 ripe mixed-colour tomatoes
- 1 romaine lettuce
- 20 blanched almonds soaked
- 1 lemon
For the Sweet Potato and Dressings
- 1 big bunch fresh basil
- 2 tbsp CAPERS
- 14 blanched almonds soaked
- 1 lemon
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large 2medium sweet potato , cut into 2.5cm thick
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard
- 1 tsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Line the beans up and cut off the stalks, put them into the pan with a pinch of salt, then cover with boiling water and the lid
- Slice the baguette into 2cm chunks and put on the griddle pan, turning when golden
- Pick and reserve 10 baby sprigs of basil
- Rip off the rest of the leaves and blitz them in the liquidizer with the anchovies (capers), juice of 1 lemon, the extra virgin olive oil and a splash of water.
- Pour about 40% of the dressing on to a nice serving platter and put aside
- Rub 10% into the chopped sweet potato and season with salt and pepper
- Pour the rest of the dressing into a big bowl with the vinegar, mustard and honey, then mix together
- Drain the cooked beans, remove the stones from the olives, roughly chop the tomatoes, then add it all to the bowl of dressing and toss together
- Spread the sweet potatoes on lined baking tray and grill for 15-20 minutes until golden
Salad Assembly:
- Chop the lettuce into 2cm chunks, tear the toasts into croutons and arrange over a large board with the lettuce
- Scatter the dressed beans, olives and tomatoes over the top
- Tear each tuna steak in half and add to the dressing platter
- Scatter over the reserved basil leaves, crumble over the feta and serve with lemon wedges