This Winter Tuna Nicoise Salad with Quinoa and Roasted Vegetables is hearty, delicious and healthy.
There’s a restaurant in town that makes a fabulous Tuna Nicoise Salad – they even poach their own tuna in oil. When this restaurant first opened, they were using a high quality canned tuna, but later decided to make their own so they could control the amount of salt in the final product (it’s much lower now according to the owner).
A while back, I bought a bag of frozen tuna steaks from Whole Foods with thoughts of making my own oil-poached tuna sous-vide. I did manage to try it and they came out really nicely. I’ll have to share that another time. For today’s Tuna Nicoise Salad, I used my panini press to grill the tuna steak. I love the panini press as a quick way to grill food indoors. Since it’s double-sided, grilling takes almost no time at all.
My winter version of Tuna Nicoise has roasted vegetables, which I think is so appropriate for this time of year, and a scoop of quinoa, which adds some whole grain goodness to this meal. This salad is hearty, delicious and healthy. I made it for lunch and ended up eating the rest of dinner.
Winter Tuna Nicoise Salad
Ingredients
- 4 ounce tuna steak I used frozen packs from Whole Foods
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste or your favorite fish seasoning
- 1 hard boiled egg
Roasted Vegetables
- 1 cup cauliflower florets
- 1 cup brussels sprouts trimmed, halved if big
- 1 cup green beans I used haricot verts
- 1 carrot thinly sliced (I used a peeler to get long thin strips)
- 3 teaspoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Salad Ingredients
- 3 romaine lettuce leaves
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 2 tablespoons olives pitted
- 1 scallion chopped
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
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Rub tuna with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, or your favorite fish seasoning. Grill on panini press or on top of the stove until cooked through.
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Toss cauliflower florets with 1 teaspoon olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper; place in single layer on baking tray.
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Toss brussels sprouts with 1 teaspoon olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper; place in single layer on baking try next to cauliflower.
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Toss green beans with 1 teaspoon olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper; place in single layer on baking try along with brussels sprouts and cauliflower.
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Place carrots in bowl used to toss other vegetables; toss to get light coating of oil; season with a little salt and pepper; place on baking tray with other vegetables.
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Roast vegetables 20-25 minutes until just cooked through.
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Line serving bowl with romaine lettuce leaves. Arrange tomatoes, quinoa, olives, roasted cauliflower, brussels sprouts, green beans, carrots, and tuna on top. Sprinkle with scallion. Serve with dressing.
Recipe Notes
Inspired by Cooking Light's Seared Tuna Nicoise
Oh yum, I love the sound of this one!
Love the winter version! Totally perfect if you leave out the egg 😉
Jeanette, I love salads like this!!! and love that you used your panini press to grill the tuna steak. what a great idea!
I love new salad recipes…this looks incredible!
What a nice salad! Love the use of a full tuna steak!
Thanks Kevin! It’s a hearty meal for sure.
I’ll have to check out Whole Foods tuna steaks. The brand I used last time wasn’t appealing. I love the cauliflower and brussels sprouts!
Kristi, the frozen tuna steaks are not sushi quality, so they work well for fully cooked tuna recipes.
A really hearty and delicious salad! I love everything about this winter salad.
I just got a panini press for Christmas and have been using it almost everyday, but haven’t cooked tuna on it yet. What a fantastic salad, Jeanette!
This bowl just makes me happy! I love tuna – and paired with these roasted veggies and boiled eggs is comport food for me!