Meal-sized Nicoise Salad for 1 or 2

Nicoise Salad
Solid albacore canned in water
Red new potatoes
Hard boiled egg(s)
Grape tomatoes
Green beans
Nicoise olives
Red leaf lettuce
Lemon
Butter
Olive oil, salt, pepper

Adapted from the classic French salad.

Hard boil the egg(s) by covering it with cold water. Bring it to a boil over high heat, immediately remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 12 minutes. Run the egg under cold water to stop the cooking process. Refill the pot with water and blanch the green beans in salted water, once brightly colored and just tender, add the beans to the cold water with the unpeeled egg. Refill the pot one last time, cut the potatoes to bite size and boil until fork-tender.

Meanwhile, clean and cut the lettuce and slice the grape tomatoes in half. When the potatoes are done, drain them, add them back to the warm pot and place back on the burner to evaporate any residual water. Add a pat of butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Peel the egg and cut in half. Drain the tuna, break apart and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place the lettuce, green beans and tomato in a bowl and squeeze half the lemon over. Pour in a tablespoon+ of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and mix with your hands.

Plate the lettuce using your hands to separate out the tomatoes and green beans, then add them on top of the lettuce. Arrange the egg, olives, potatoes and tuna around the greens.