How to turn excess olive brine into a lipsmacking salad dressing – recipe | Food

Olive brine is a simple byproduct that has so much flavour, and it elevates a classic salade nicoise dressing while keeping things colourful, elegant and relatively simple.

Salade nicoise with olive-brine vinaigrette

Though this one-bowl wonder began life as a simple tomato and anchovy salad with olive oil, it has become more elaborate over time, and the addition of cooked green beans, eggs and even tuna all make sense to me. What’s worth preserving, though, is its Mediterranean simplicity, and the olive-brine dressing adds a lot of flavour without needing loads of extra ingredients.

In the spirit of simplicity, this vinaigrette keeps to just three wonderfully flavourful ingredients: olive brine for salt and depth of flavour, red-wine vinegar for acidity and olive oil for substance and piquancy. It won’t hold a stable emulsion in the way a mustard dressing does, so give it another good shake just before it goes on the salad. I buy whole olives with the pits in and pit them myself. They, and the brine, taste so much better that way.

Serves 4

For the vinaigrette
2 tbsp brine from a jar of olives
1 tbsp red-wine vinegar
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Black pepper, to taste

For the salad
6 eggs
200g green beans, topped
200g cocktail tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes
1 red pepper, stalk, seeds and pith removed, flesh sliced into rings
½ medium cucumber, skin on and seeds in, cut into large chunks
4 spring onions, cut into 1cm lengths (white and green parts)
1 small jar black olives
Anchovy fillets, (optional) to taste; I used a whole standard 50g tin
1 small handful basil leaves, to finish

Put the olive brine, vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil in a jar, and add a grind of black pepper to taste. Screw on the lid and shake until the mixture emulsifies. It won’t stay emulsified for long, so shake again just before you’re ready to eat. The dressing will now keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Put the eggs in a pan of cold water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the green beans, bring back to a boil and cook for four minutes. Drain, then put the eggs and beans in a bowl of iced or cold water. Once cooled, drain again and put the beans to one side (they can be left whole or cut into pieces). Peel and halve the eggs.

Cut the tomatoes in half, then arrange all the vegetables on a platter. Scatter over the stoned olives and drained anchovy fillets to taste, then finish with the halved eggs, some torn basil leaves and the freshly shaken dressing. Eat straight away.