This is one of the salads I made for our cookout over this holiday weekend. I will post the others later. I made it the night before and added the dressing a couple of hours before serving and let it get to room temperature. The recipe is in Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard. Which a great read by the way. It serves 4-6, but it can easily be doubled.

2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon pastis (an apertif, liquorice test) or anisette

1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil or more up to 1/2 cup to taste

1 1/2 pounds of small red potatoes, halved or quartered

3/4 pounds of haricots verts, extra thin green beans, blanched (I don’t blanch them as I do like them less crunchy)

1 small red onion, minced

1/2 cup of flat-leaf parsley chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1/2 cup of black nicoise olives

Combine the first 7 ingredients for the dressing in a glass jar or airtight container. Shake vigorously to combine.  Place the potatoes in a pot filled with salted cold water. Bring to a boil and cook them till tender about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, trim the beans and blanch them in salted water for 4 minutes so they will be bright green. Pat dry with paper towels.

Drain the potatoes, place them in a bowl add the onions, parsley, thyme, olives and beans. Add the dressing and refrigerate for an hour. Let it get to room temperature and serve.