Salade Niçoise

My husband has survived his trip back home from Oxford (see my previous post), nobody has accosted him, but then he didn't paint an Italian flag on his cheek with face paints. He enjoyed a late night match in the company of the other Italians. But he said there was quite a lot of police around when he was heading home, just in case some hotheads would want to vent their frustration.
After yesterday's stodgy focaccia to cheer Italy in the World Cup, I really fancied something lighter today. Something like a flavourful Salade Nicoise. My original plan was to cook a fresh tuna steak and flake it for the salad, but Waitrose didn't have any fresh tuna, so I picked a pack of 3 tinned tuna chunks in spring water. I also wanted to use the duck eggs we got today in Cogges manor farm.

Salade Nicoise (serves 2)
Ingredients:
2 tins of tuna chunks in spring water (80g each), for example, Princes
8 baby potatoes
100g green/French beans
2 duck eggs
4 anchovies
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
a handful of baby tomatoes
a handful of black & green olives
gem lettuce heart
1tbsp chopped parsley

3 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp Dijon mustard
1tsbp balsamic vinegar
1tsp lemon juice

Cook the baby potatoes and French beans in the salted water. Once cooked, let them cool. Cook the eggs, they should be hard-boiled.
Assemble the salad: place the torn gem lettuce leaves, halved potatoes and tomatoes, green beans, then tinned tuna and onion rings. Cut the eggs in quarters, and put small pieces of anchovies on top of the eggs. Add the olives and chopped parsley.
Make a dressing from the olive oil, Dijon mustard, vinegar and lemon juice. Pour over the salad.
Serve at once with a nice chunk of bread.

This is a French recipe to celebrate France playing the match today.

Chris from Cooking Around the World has challenged the foodies to take part in a culinary-football-themed game this month. Read all about the rules of the game in his linky Bloggers Around the World.