Niçoise-ish Pasta Salad

I don't know why I bought a large can of tuna.  It was probably on sale.  I don't make tuna casserole or anything else you would need it for.  So I had to come up with something.

My mom used to like Salade Niçoise.  She didn't order it when we were in Nice, come to think of it.  There are several things in it I don't like, and it's a whole lot of work to assemble so many ingredients.  I decided to trim the ingredient list and open a jar of pickled artichokes to serve as both an ingredient and the base of the salad dressing.  I then arranged everything on top of some gemelli pasta that had been on clearance, instead of lettuce.  I bought it figuring it would be good for a pasta salad.  Just means I didn't have bread on the side, as I would have for a regular main course salad.

The best deal I found on the olives was a 4-pack of travel sized cups.  The rest were either stuffed with something I didn't want or really expensive.  How hard is it to make a basic olive canned in an unseasoned brine?  I know, supply chain shortages; I'm usually more flexible than this.  I was eyeing the black olives when I saw these.  Not as interesting for a fancy salad, but I was getting frustrated.  Had not realized until then how picky I am about my olives.

8oz gemelli pasta (or similar salad-friendly pasta)
4 oz haricots verts or whole green beans
1 C cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
*8 oz marinated artichoke hearts, drained, liquid reserved
4 oz niçoise or kalamata olives
*1 12 oz or 2 5-1/2 oz cans tuna in water, drained
*2 tsp Dijon or grainy mustard
Olive oil as needed
salt, pepper, dried oregano to taste

1.  Boil a large pot of water and cook pasta to package directions.  I actually weighed out the dry pasta instead of measuring by volume just to be a cooking nerd.  And now I have exactly half a box for another day.  When done, drain and rinse.

2.  While that is going on, prepare remaining ingredients.  Trim the ends of the beans and blanch in simmering water 5 minutes, until bright green.  Drain and chill.  Add mustard to artichoke brine and enough olive oil to equal 1/3 cup of dressing.  Taste dressing and add salt, pepper, or oregano as needed until you like it.  Drain tuna.  Cut tomatoes in half.

3.  Add half of dressing to the pasta and toss well.  Chill all ingredients until room temperature or cooler, at least 1 hour.

4.  To plate salads, start with the pasta.  Top with organized portions of beans, tomatoes, olives, artichokes, and tuna.  Drizzle with remaining dressing and serve.

Difficulty rating  π