Dinner salads are a great thing you make when you’ve had a long day and don’t feel like spending a lot of time preparing in the kitchen.  Try the following satisfying recipes when you’ve had such a day!

Salade Nicoise

6 servings

What does the French Riviera town of Nice have to do with food? It’s the origin of Salade Nicoise—fresh tomatoes, sliced hard-boiled eggs, tuna and an olive oil dressing. To make the salad more filling, you can add cooked green beans, chopped peppers and cooked potatoes. This version has no source; sorry.

Dressing

• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Place oils, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a jar. Close the lid and shake vigorously.

Ingredients

• 1 pound trimmed and washed green beans
• 1 thinly sliced red onion
• 2 tomatoes cut into wedges
• ½ cup pitted ripe olives
• 1 2-oz.can anchovy filets
• 2 7-ounce cans drained tuna, broken into chunks
• 2 sliced hard-boiled eggs

1. Place green beans in a saucepan with small amount boiling, salted water, cover and cook for 17-20 minutes. Drain. Turn into a bowl. Add ½ cup dressing, toss, cover and refrigerate for two hours.
2. Turn beans into a salad bowl. Add few onion slices, tomato wedges, olives and anchovy filets, and toss. Add tuna and egg slices. Garnish with the rest of the onion and toss. Drizzle remaining dressing.

‘Olive Bar’ Salad

8 servings

Thus is an adaptation of a Food Wine recipe.

Dressing

• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons fresh, chopped oregano leaves
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 grated garlic cloves
• pepper to taste
• ½ cup olive oil
• 12 ounces cooked orecchiette pasta
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh, torn basil leaves
• 7 ounces cubed feta cheese
• ½ cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes
• ½ cup pitted olives

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist, author and compiler/editor of nine kosher cookbooks. She is a food writer for North American Jewish publications, and she leads walks of the Jewish food market, Machaneh Yehudah, in English.