Honey Dijon Grilled Salmon Nicoise Salad

I first discovered Nicoise salad in early college, when a food blogger I followed mentioned her very favorite Nicoise came from- of all places- the Nordstrom cafe. Of course, always a foodie at heart, I immediately asked my mom to come with me for a little girls date, where we sat and ate what is now my favorite salad to order- the Nicoise.

Nicoise salad is traditionally made with tuna or anchovies, tomatoes, olives, egg, green beans and white potatoes (typically fingerling). It originated, as the name suggests, from the Nicoise region of France as just anchovies, tomatoes and olive oil- simple and delicious. I love how satisfying the evolved version is, with ingredients that are both delicious and satiating- beyond your typical greens-and-veggies-type salad, into a full and satisfying meal. Of course, I've made tweaks to my own variation over the years- I'm sensitive to white potatoes, so I use Japanese (purple) sweet potatoes; a slightly less-sweet version of their cousin, garnet yams or jewel sweet potatoes, which you could certainly use- white sweet potatoes work as well- but I love the contrast between the slightly sweet potatoes, sweet and tangy salmon and the tangy shallot herb vinaigrette.

And can we talk about the salmon, for a second? This is one of my favorite simple ways to prepare salmon- you only need three ingredients (plus some salt) to make a delicious flaky salmon filet. The combination results in my go-to spring (or really anytime of the year!) full-meal salad. Let's make it!

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