Summer Lunch Week: Tuna White Bean Salad

July 23, 2015 Ceri

I was evil in an earlier life. (If you have known me to be evil in this life, I’m sorry) It’s the only explanation for the fact that two weeks after returning from holiday to find our air conditioner non-functioning, that we still don’t have a/c. Lots of guys coming over to look at the unit, taking it apart and making a mess of the place, a lot of head shaking and head scratching, but fixing the damn thing? Not so much. And of course it all went down on the hottest days Toronto has seen in about a million years. I counted no fewer than five a/c repair vans on our street one day last week. I know these are first world problems in the extreme but it was HOT last week. So hot. I couldn’t form another thought other than — My God, it’s so hot — all of last week. This woman became my best friend.

This week is better (and cooler) and I am allowing myself to hope that the fourth maintenance appointment I’ve got booked for tomorrow will be the one to save us. Please send any spare good juju you’ve got my way. Meanwhile I’m in need of meals that do not require the stove, the oven, or any heat source at all. This salad is perfect for lunch or dinner. It’s so simple to make yet creates a really satisfying salad. Esme and Julian are both starting to really come around to salad and this is full of many of their favourite ingredients. I don’t know how much we’ll like to eat this salad in the Arctic, where we’ll be moving if our air conditioner does not get fixed tomorrow, but I’ll keep you posted.

Photo by Maya Visnyei

Summer Lunch Week: Tuna White Bean Salad

Ingredients

1 x 5 oz can of tuna
1 x 15 oz can of cannellini beans
1/4 cup red onion, diced fine
4 or 5 radishes, thinly sliced
8 or so cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 bunch of arugula, washed, dried and trimmed
2 handfuls of fresh basil, washed, dried and trimmed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a large-ish bowl, mix together the tuna, beans and onions. Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil, pour it over your tuna and give everything a good mix. You don’t want to lose all the texture of the tuna, so don’t over do it. Taste it and see if you’d like some salt and pepper. That’s it — now put some cling film on the bowl and pop it in the fridge for a bit. If you don’t have time it’s no big deal but the salad will taste better if it’s had a chance to marinate for an hour.

Now it’s just an assembly job. You’ve got four plates. Lay out a handful of greens on each plate, a scoop of tuna deliciousness and then scatter tomatoes and radishes on top.

And serve with the good feeling that you have not turned the stove on.

Sweet Potato Chronicles

Originally posted July 22, 2013