If you think this sounds something like a reconstructed salade Niçoise on bread, well, you’d be right, but the truth is, I got the idea in Italy, not France. On my first trip there, in Venice, I quickly became addicted to eating while standing up at one of the city’s many bars. Besides melanzana (eggplant) pizza, my favorite dish was a sandwich that seemed the ultimate in decadence, because it consisted of potato salad on one side and tuna salad on the other. When I started making it for myself, it seemed only natural to combine both salads into one, and then to throw a hard-cooked egg in there (who doesn’t like egg salad, after all?), along with a couple of olives for briny tartness.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Halfway fill a medium bowl with cold water and add a cup of ice.
Step 2
Preheat the oven broiler with the rack set 4 to 5 inches from the flame or element. Toast the bread under the broiler until deep golden brown on one side, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a dinner plate.
Step 3
In a small saucepan set over high heat, bring a quart of water to a boil. Using an egg pricker or a thumbtack, carefully poke a hole just through the egg shell on the rounder end. Use a slotted spoon to carefully lower the egg into the water, along with the potato cubes. As soon as the water returns to a boil, decrease the heat to medium-low or low so that the water is barely bubbling. Cook the egg and potato together for 8 minutes (for a slightly soft yolk in the very center) or 9 minutes for a fully cooked yolk.
Step 4
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the egg and potato cubes to the bowl of ice water. When the egg is cool enough to handle, scoop it out and crack it all over against the countertop. Remove a piece of shell from the rounder end and return the egg to the water. After a minute or two, slip off the rest of the shell and transfer the egg to a cutting board. When it cools, coarsely chop it and transfer it to a medium mixing bowl. Scoop the potato pieces out of the water and transfer them to the bowl. Add the tuna, olives, and 1 tablespoon of the mayonnaise to the bowl and stir to combine, adding up to another tablespoon of mayonnaise if you want a creamier mixture. Lightly season with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 5
To assemble the sandwich, sprinkle the spinach leaves onto the toasted side of one of the slices of bread, and top with the tuna-egg-potato salad and the other slice of bread, toasted side facing inward. Cut in half and eat.
