Nicoise bundles with tarragon mayonnaise
Classic nicoise salad served as individual bundles, perfect for a summer lunch or starter
Recipe Meta
Prep
6 mins
Cook
10 mins
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 8 leaves of little gem lettuce or treviso radicchio
- ½ tsp red wine vinegar
- 8 basil leaves
- 100g pitted black olives
- 8 anchovy fillets in oil
For the mayonnaise
- 2 egg yolks, at room temp
- 1 tbsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar
- ½ tsp mustard powder
- 200ml sunflower oil
- 100ml olive oil
- 1 tbsp chopped tarragon leaves
Method
Hard-boil the eggs and set aside to cool while you make the mayonnaise:
Gently hand-whisk the egg yolks with salt and pepper. Stir in the lemon juice or vinegar and the mustard powder. Then hand-whisk in – drop by drop to start with – the oils. As the mayonnaise gets thicker, the oils can be added at more of a drizzle pace. Continue until you have a lovely thick, shiny mayonnaise. Check the seasoning and stir through the tarragon.
Peel and quarter the hard-boiled eggs. Wash and dry the lettuce or radicchio leaves – choose ones that have a good ‘boat’ shape. Sprinkle a little red wine vinegar, salt and pepper inside each and line with a basil leaf. Chop the olives and sit the pieces inside the lettuce / radicchio. Sit the quarter of egg inside too and then lay the whole anchovy fillet over the top of the egg. Serve two nicoise bundles per person, with a dollop of mayonnaise alongside.
Image: John Holdship