Tuna Nicoise with Jammy Eggs and New Potatoes

Niçoise is the one salad nobody feels short-changed by. It is also almost entirely pantry, which makes it the thing to cook when the fridge looks empty and you are not going to the store.

Use tuna packed in olive oil, not water, and use the oil in the dressing.

Why this one is iodine-rich

Tuna and egg yolk are both dependable sources, and the potatoes add a little more with their skins on. It is another plate that gets there without any seaweed, which matters if you are building a rotation you can eat every week.

Ingredients

Serves 2.

• 1 can (about 5 oz) good tuna in olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 10 oz baby potatoes, halved
• 5 oz green beans, trimmed
• Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 cup black olives
• 2 tbsp capers
• Handful of soft lettuce leaves
• Half a small red onion, sliced paper thin

For the dressing:

• The oil from the tuna can, plus olive oil to make 4 tbsp
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed

Method

1. Boil the potatoes in well-salted water for 12 minutes. Add the green beans for the final 3 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 7 minutes, then cool them in cold water and peel. Seven minutes gives you a set white and a yolk that is still soft in the middle.
3. Drain the potatoes and beans. While the potatoes are still hot, toss them in a third of the dressing — warm potato absorbs it, cold potato does not.
4. Shake the remaining dressing ingredients together in a jar.
5. Lay the lettuce on a large platter. Arrange the potatoes, beans, tomatoes, onion and olives over it, then flake the tuna on in large pieces.
6. Halve the eggs and set them on top. Spoon over the rest of the dressing and scatter with capers.

Notes and swaps

• Fresh tuna is lovely here but not better for this dish, and canned is far better value.
• Anchovies. Traditional, and they add savoriness — lay two or three over the top if you like them.
• Packed lunch. Everything but the dressing and eggs keeps overnight. Assemble in the morning.
• Vegetarian. Swap the tuna for white beans and add a sheet of torn toasted nori.

Common questions

Which tuna should I buy?
Skipjack is generally lower in mercury than larger species like albacore or bigeye, and pole-and-line caught is the better choice on sustainability. Official advice on tuna frequency differs for pregnancy — worth checking if that applies to you.

Do the potatoes really matter?
Only a little, but the skin is where most of it sits, so leave them unpeeled.

The food-first habit

A can of tuna and three eggs is a genuinely good dinner. If Lugol's Iodine was how you got your intake back up, having two or three meals like this that you can make without shopping is how you keep it there.

Recipes are published for general interest and are not medical or dietary advice. Iodine requirements vary from person to person, and iodine has an upper limit as well as a recommended intake. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking thyroid medication or managing a thyroid condition, speak to your healthcare provider before making significant changes to your iodine intake. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.