Photo by Rachael Brugger

A favorite among the French, this tomato summer salad is presented in a new form. The combination of tomatoes, potatoes, green beans and tuna remains a classic made famous in the United States by Julia Child. Stacked Tomato Niçoise is a fun recipe to showcase your beautiful heirloom tomatoes.

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

Vinaigrette

• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 2 T. fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp. dried tarragon
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Tuna salad

• 6 ounces tuna, flaked
• 1/2 celery stalk, diced
• 1 scallion, minced
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 T. mayonnaise
• 1 T. vinaigrette

Potato salad

• 1 medium-sized Yukon Gold potato, cooked until just tender, cooled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/2 celery stalk, diced
• 1 scallion, minced
• 1 T. mayonnaise
• 1 T. vinaigrette

Hardboiled egg

• 1 egg

Haricot verts

• 4 ounces thin green beans
• 1 tsp. salt

Assembly

• 1 cup baby spinach leaves
• 4 large tomatoes
• 12 olives

Preparation

Vinaigrette
In small bowl, combine first seven ingredients, and whisk in olive oil until emulsified.

Tuna Salad
In separate small bowl, mix together all ingredients. Set aside.

Potato salad
In separate small bowl, mix together all ingredients. Set aside.

Hardboiled egg
Place egg in small pot, and add water to cover. Bring water to rolling boil; then turn off heat, leaving the pot covered on burner for 10 minutes. Drain water, and cool egg under cold, running water. Peel and cut egg into wedges. Set aside.

Haricot verts
Add salt to a small pot of water, and bring to boil. Add green beans, and cook until crunchy-tender. about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain, cool, and set aside.

Salad
Divide spinach among four salad plates. Cut a thin slice off bottom of each tomato to lay flat on plate, and slice each tomato into four thick, horizontal slices. Place bottom slice on top of spinach. Then place layer of tuna salad on top of that, second tomato slice, a layer of potato salad, third tomato slice, another layer of tuna salad and top slice of tomato. Hold in place with toothpick or skewer. Garnish with haricot verts, olives and egg wedges, and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette.

Excerpt from Tasty Tomatoes, part of the Popular Gardening Series, with permission from its publisher, BowTie, Inc. Purchase Tasty Tomatoes here.