Italian Tuna Salad

Tuna Salad-you either love it or hate it. My husband (who doesn’t like fish) loves it. I (who loves fish) am extremely particular about it. Our four year old loves it on hollowed out cucumber boats with the tuna recipe I’m sharing today.

I adapted this recipe from a tuna fish dish that my husband and I ate on a boat off the coast of Sicily on our honeymoon. What a day that was! Eight hours out at sea. The first four hours were just the two of us and a couple that drives you around the coast of Sicily and feeds you. It was an unforgettable day, to say the least. First we passed an old abandoned tuna factory off the coast and then were driven to the open water pretty far out. Dark blue waters. They stopped the engine and we soon realized they wanted us to take a swim in said water. We looked at each other and I knew immediately from the look on my husband’s face that he was not going to be the brave one. He whispered something about not wanting to swim amongst the giant tuna. I’m laughing writing this. What a spectacle we were! We braved it for a few minutes, just to be polite and while I was afraid of what could be nibbling at my toes in that water, I was happy that my new husband was just as much a chicken as I was!

After that jaunt, we went back towards the coast and while we happily swam around there, we were cooked the most delicious seafood pasta dish and were fed some delightful local white wine, Etna Bianco-our favorite. Gluten free pasta was prepared for him. It was just the two of us, surround by water. Now THIS was more my speed!

After lunch we sat up top and took in the sun, we picked up another friendly group of people and did some more swimming and touring. At the end of the trip, they fed us a couple of local tuna delicacies like the local riff on bottarga and the most amazing tuna salad we have ever had. And more of that crisp white wine. Oh what a day. The tuna was of course, the best grade you can find, mixed with mayonnaise and local Sicilian capers.

So, that is the inspiration to this “Italian Style Tuna”. I use Italian tuna in oil, mayo, capers and lemon. I guess you can call it Tuna Siciliana if you want to get technical. I do add chopped celery to it for some crunch. I also like to add a dollop of dijon to it if the mood hits me.

Like I said in the beginning, my daughter loves it on boats. I usually put it on a salad and also in a wrap for my husband and I. For this recipe I put it in a radicchio cup, and serving it that way with some toasted sliced Italian bread would make a really nice presentation for someone who likes tuna! Add a glass of wine, close yours eyes and pretend you’re on a boat out at sea instead of your dinner table on a Tuesday night!

Italian Style Tuna Salad:

Ingredients:

• 3 Cans of Italian Tuna in Oil

• 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise ( add more or less depending on your preference!)

• 1/2 cup Celery

• 2 TBSP Capers (leave in a little caper brine)

• Zest of one lemon

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix this all together and taste for seasoning, make your adjustments.

Serve as you like, serves 3-4

Notes:

Remember that tuna (and capers) can be very salty, so start with just a sprinkle of salt.

Italian tuna prices vary and can get quite expensive for an easy weeknight meal.  I like to use cans of Tonnino tuna, it is the most reasonable.

Enjoy!

Lisa's Larb

Darin and I love to order Larb when we go out for Thai food.  Larb is a Southeast Asian dish that is basically a minced meat salad-the dressing is spicy, salty and tangy: a great light dish with very bold flavors.  It's also a dish that is easy to prepare at home as a fast and healthy weeknight meal.  I like to serve it over some greens with cucumbers, and sometimes I will add rice or quinoa to the mix.  It's very versatile and fun to make.  This recipe below is a good starting point.  I am in no means making this in a traditional Thai or Laotian way, which is why I call it, Lisa's Larb.

Ingredients:

For the Meat:

• 1 lb ground meat of your choice (this is chicken)
• 1 TB Chili Paste

For the Sauce:

• 1TB Sesame Oil
• 1/2 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1 1/2 TB Fish Sauce
• Juice of 3 Limes
• 1/2 tsp Chili Paste
• 1 TB Tamari Sauce
• 1 TB Dijon Mustard
• 2 TB Honey
• 1 tsp Salt

For the Salad:

• Handful of fresh cilantro
• Handful of fresh mint
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 package of lettuces of your choice
• 3 scallions
• 1 TB olive oil

For the Garnish:

• 2 Kirby Cucumbers
• 1 handful Toasted Peanuts (I used cashews)
• 5-10 Cilantro leaves
• 5-10 Mint leaves
• jalapeno slices

The first thing you want to do is sauté your ground meat in the chili paste.  

While that is cooking, you can get the sauce prepped.  I like to put all of the ingredients into a liquid measuring cup, because it is deep enough where you can whisk the ingredients together with a small whisk or fork and not make a mess.  So, go ahead and put all of the ingredients into the measuring cup or bowl and whisk away.  Make sure to periodically check on your meat and stir and break up the bigger parts of meat.  When it is cooked through, turn off the heat and keep the meat in that pan.  Drizzle 1/4 of the sauce onto the meat so it can start to soak up the flavors of the sauce.  

Now you can assemble your salad.  Roughly chop your lettuces and fresh herbs, clean and chop the scallions, slice the jalapeños (put some aside to use for garnish) and place in a bowl.  Gently toss with the olive oil.  I only put olive oil because plenty of acidic liquid is going to end up on the greens once I assemble the dish.

Now you could prep your garnish, chop the toasted nuts, peel and slice your cucumbers (I like to cut them diagonally so they could be used to scoop up the meat and they're pretty).

To plate all of this, place your salad on your plates.  Top with the meat mixture and drizzle the sauce al over the meat.  Next, arrange the cucumbers around the plate and sprinkle the remaining garnish over the top of the larb.  

Serve and Enjoy!

This recipe makes enough for two big salads, or you can steam some rice and serve 4 people.

Lisa's Larb Finished Product!

This is the kind of dish that you could really make your own.  It's spicy, tangy, salty and a little sweet-so feel free to add heat or sweet depending on your preferences.  It's a great versatile and healthy dish that you should try if you haven't!

Coconut Cauliflower With Five Spice Chicken Thighs

This is one of those meals that are healthy and fast enough as a weeknight dinner but also decadent enough to be a weekend meal.  If you find yourself with leftovers on a weekend morning, poach some eggs and put them on top of the reheated 'rice'.  

The first thing I did was rinse some boneless skinless chicken thighs, pat them dry and liberally dust them with salt and a 5 spice blend.  I put them right into my oil free anonized all-clad fry pan and let them sear and render their own fat.  While they cooked, I riced a head of cauliflower using our Ninja blender (use any blender or food processor, or buy some pre-riced!) and started chopping my vegetables and prepping my mis en place.

Five Spice Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (yummy, fast and versatile)

For my mis en place I diced an orange bell pepper (you can use any color, I just prefer orange), I peeled and coarsely sliced some fresh ginger (I remove it halfway when cooking), chopped scallions and a pack of cremini mushrooms.  I also picked some basil leaves and cut up a fresh pineapple.  Additional ingredients were a half can of lite coconut milk, gluten free soy sauce and chili paste, and curry powder.

My next step was to add about a tablespoon of chili paste to the fry pan that I cooked the chicken thighs in, some soy sauce to deglaze the brown bits and added the ginger.  I let that fry up a bit and then added the peppers and half of the scallions.  After a few minutes I added the mushrooms and let those cook for a few minutes more.  Then I removed the ginger and in went the coconut milk, half of the basil and once that heated through, I tasted it and adjusted the salt.  In went the cauliflower rice and I let that cook for about 5 minutes and added a little more soy sauce and about a tablespoon of brown sugar to it.  I let this cook for about ten minutes, stirring it every now and then.  After ten minutes, I stirred in my pineapple and shut the heat.  

Coconut Cauliflower Rice with pineapple

At this point, you are ready to plate!  Ladle in some of the rice, spread some slices of the chicken thighs around it and add some of the fresh chopped scallions and basil.  Enjoy with a crisp white wine or beer if you prefer.  

Remember, when making cauliflower fried rice, there are endless combinations of proteins, produce and flavors you can use to create a fun, healthy, gluten free and low carb meal that hopefully your whole family could enjoy!