Easter Lunch and new chairs!

Salad Nicoise!

I love this salad so much.  It's so healthy, fresh and pretty...and makes super tasty leftover sandwiches the next day on crusty baguettes. Here's the basic breakdown of how I made it:

Serves 4-6

Dressing:
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or a bit more to your taste)
1 shallot minced
dash salt and pepper
I put everything into an empty dressing bottle that I washed out and shook it up.  You will need some to dress the potatoes and the rest for serving

Salad:
 3 hard boiled eggs (put in boiling water, turn off flame let sit 10 minutes-pop into ice bath when done, then peel and cut into 6ths)
2 c  small fingerling potatoes (boiled 15 minutes then drained and dressed in a couple tablespoons of dressing)
1 c haricots vert (blanched for 3 minutes and then put in ice bath)
1 head organic red leaf lettuce washed, leaves torn
4 small tomatoes cut into 6ths
1/2 c nicoise olives (or kalamata)
1 lb sashimi tuna steak (seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, rubbed with a bit of olive oil so it doesn't stick-grilled on super high for 2 minutes per side) then sliced like sushi pieces against the grain of the meat for lack of a better term.

For Easter lunch, I arranged it all on a platter and served the dressing on the side.  It looked gorgeous, but honestly, it was a pain to serve this way.  

Usually I just plate it up for each person by lightly dressing the lettuce, putting some on each plate and then arranging all the components nicely on top of the lettuce with extra dressing served on the side. 

For the sandwiches.  Toast some baguette.  Cut sandwich sized pieces 4-6" long split in half lengthwise.  dress each side lightly with dressing and top with lettuce, tomato, pitted olive, tuna and egg.  Smush together and enjoy!

Yum!!

 

I decorated for the occasion with some Rannuculus (my 2nd favorite flower) #peoniesrule

I tucked them into a cute thrifted vase from Goodwill that I got for $1

Look how cute this little seating arrangement is now that the new chairs are in.  Please ignore Walter's butt.  He's such a relentless photo bomber! Incidentally this is him rubbing his face on the carpet after eating his breakfast.  Awesome right?!

Let's take a real look at the new swivel chairs.  Oh I had my doubts about these working out.  I was concerned about the color clashing with the sofa and the fact that they are a couple of inches higher than the sofa too.  After a week of looking at them, swiveling and tilting back to ponder, I decided...

 I love them! Yay!!