This is a classic French salad, which you’ll often see smartened up in restaurants with freshly seared tuna, but I think it is much better made the way the French intended, with tinned. With its ripe tomatoes and naturally black olives, it’s full of the flavours of Provence. The only twist I like to do is to incorporate the anchovies into the dressing rather than laying them on top. That way you get to enjoy the lovely salty kick throughout the salad.
Put the potatoes into a pan of cold water with a pinch of salt, bring to the boil, then boil for 6–7 minutes. Add the green beans and continue to boil for 3–5 minutes, or until both the potatoes and beans are tender. Drain in a colander, then season and drizzle with a little oil. Set aside.
Meanwhile, boil the eggs in gently boiling water for 7 minutes, or until almost hard-boiled. Drain, then fill the pan with cold water, tap the eggs against the side to crack the shells and leave to sit in the water to cool.
To make the dressing, put the mustard, capers, anchovies and 2 teaspoons of their oil into a mortar and pound to a paste. Add the garlic and a good pinch of pepper and mix again. Finally, add the vinegar, olive oil and parsley and mix well.
Halve the potatoes, then peel and slice the eggs.
To serve, place 2 tablespoons of the dressing on a large serving platter or in a shallow bowl. Arrange the ingredients as you prefer, drizzling with the dressing as you go. Finish with the remaining dressing.
HOW TO CHOOSE BLACK OLIVES
Always try to buy genuinely black olives, which have been left on the trees to ripen naturally and are actually more of a dark greeny brown. The uniformly glossy black ones you often see are simply green olives painted with a black dye.