Mason Jar Vegetarian Nicoise Salad

I am pleased to report that Salad Sundays are still alive and well in this house! This week I wanted to try one of our favorites -- veggie Nicoise salad -- in the large round Ziploc containers I have come to know and love at lunchtime.

This one is fairly time consuming, this recipe is a combo of what I did and what I want to try next time to speed things up.

 Nicoise Salad Recipe

adapted from Simply Recipes

• Yield:6 large Mason Jar salads, or large round ziploc container salads

 

Ingredients

Vinaigrette:

• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium shallot, minced
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh basil leaves
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano leaves
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad

• 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
• 10 small new red potatoes (each about 2 inches in diameter, about 1 1/2 pounds total), each potato scrubbed and quartered
• 12 ounces green beans, stem ends trimmed and each bean halved crosswise6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered 
•  2 Tbsp capers, rinsed and/or several anchovies (optional)
• 1 cup niçoise olives, pitted
• 1 ½ cups grape tomatoes, cut into halves
• 1 ½ cups baby cucumbers, chopped
• 1 small red onion, sliced very thin (about 1/2 cup)
• ½ lb baby arugula, washed

Method

1. Boil large pot of water. Add in eggs, potatoes and green beans, bring back to boil, and boil for 10 minutes. Drain everything. (I am not sure if this timing will work, but I want to try it for next time -- eggs might need a little more, green beans a little less.)

2. Meanwhile, in a hand blender container, blend together the lemon juice, oil, mustard, and salt and pepper until emulsified. Add in the thyme, basil, oregano, and blend in spurts until herbs are minced. Mince shallots by hand and mix in with a spoon.

3. Layer the ingredients in the salad as follows: 

-- white beans

-- potatoes
-- dressing poured on top of these two items (approx. 4 T. dressing per container)

-- green beans

-- olives
-- capers

-- red onion
-- tomatoes

-- cucumbers

-- eggs

-- top up each jar with arugula

4. Close tightly, salad will keep in the refrigerator 5 days easily. When ready to eat, open and dump into a large bowl, mix everything up.