A few years ago, Carlo and I did the South Beach Diet when that was all the rage. Most of the recipes included in their cookbook were fairly nasty, which anyone who has been pranked at the dinner table by their Surprise “Mashed Potatoes” recipe definitely knows! However, one of our favourite recipes in the first South Beach cookbook was for Tuna Nicoise.

We have long gotten rid of the cookbook, but we still love to eat this for lunch. Of course, since it was a South Beach recipe, it has no potatoes in it, which of course are the hallmark of a true Tuna Nicoise, but with all that crunchy veggie goodness, I can skip the potatoes. Our remake of Tuna Nicoise serves 2 large lunch portions at $2.78 per serving.

Tuna Nicoise is full of great vegetables: The basics include steamed green beans, cucumber, red pepper, tomatoes, and black olives. Cut everything up into bite size pieces and throw in a can of diced water chestnuts for some extra crunch. You can also mix in some red onion or scallions, but use a light hand so you don’t overpower the other veggies. You could add pretty much any other veggies that you like in the mix and it will still taste good.

To make the dressing, whiz together some white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and olive oil to taste. Season the vinaigrette with a little bit of thyme, and salt and pepper. When I made the salad this time, I used some tuna packed in olive oil, so I drained that oil and used it as the basis for the dressing. Toss all of the vegetables with the vinaigrette.

Top the veggies with some canned tuna and a sliced hard boiled egg for a great and filling lunch.

Over the years, I’ve perfected how to best hard boil eggs (or at least how we like to eat them), so I’ll share my cooking method. Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover them with cold water. Put on a timer for 12 minutes and turn on the stove heat to high. Once the timer goes off, scoop the eggs out of the boiling water and place them in a dish filled with cold water. Stick the dish in the fridge and let the eggs cool off. By putting the eggs in the cold water, you stop the cooking process so the egg yolks remain a tad soft and fluffy, and you don’t get that gross green ring around the yolk from over cooking.