Thursday 10 February 2011

Dan's Tuna Salad - and it is famous (ish)

I forgot about this one. It is a great spring or summer meal. Lovely to eat for lunch, light, crisp, tasty as, and easy to make.

This is not a mayo dish by the way. Also, there are flavours in here directly from the Mediterranean palate and will make your mouth smelly. Good! If you are a pescinatarnarian or whatever they are called, then this is nice too. If you are on a diet, this is nice. If you like grazing, this is nice. If you want something cheap, this is nice.

Now many years ago, I made this once for Marianne Lumb, esteemed chef and runner-up or winner of Masterchef the Professionals 2009 (depending on which paper you read ;) She loved it so much, that she took it to a restaurant that she was working in on Bondi Beach in Sydney and stuck it on the menu. She called it Dan's Tuna Salad and it even got a review in the paper I am led to believe. I might be making that last bit up as my brain is clouded with cold. But actually this I think is true.

The critical ingredient in this is the Beit Hashita pickled cucumbers.

The reason for this is that I have tried so many different types of sweet pickles and virtually all of them are. But these are in BRINE, they are salted and shrivelled and ugly and delicious. They are widely available in North London Sainsbury's near Stamford Hill. Ahem. However, in Belfast, Sydney, Derbyshire or Atlanta, you might struggle. In which case use what you can.

Ok, so what are the ingredients? I will make it for 2 and you can double up for more.

1 large can of tuna steaks/chunks in water or brine (or two smaller cans) - fresh tuna is nice but doesn't really work as well.
3 medium sized, vine ripened tomatoes, cubed smallish
3 Beit Hashita pickled cucumbers, cubed (you can get them from Sainsbury's in the foreign food section next to Kosher Coca Cola. Fun.
1 red onion chopped finely, finely chopped
1 tin of chick peas drained and rinsed
1 bunch of coriander washed and chopped
Extra virgin olive oil, good glug
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Fresh ground black pepper
Sea salt

All you need to do is get a nice big serving bowl and mix the chopped tomatoes with the onions, then add the tuna, then add the chick peas, then the cucumbers and coriander and then the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and gently stir. Taste and add more seasoning, oil if dry and vinegar for sharpness. The flavours marry really well, as the sweet of the tomatoes against the sour of the cucumbers, with the crunch of the onion, and the nutty, mealy texture of the chickpea, plus the meat of the tuna is all yum. And the seasoning and oil balance for the perfect alternative salad to a fecking tuna mayo sandwich. If you line the bowl with nice lettuce leaves, that will add more crunch and be very nice too.

Eat this with toast, toasted pitta, toasted flat breads, toast anything, and it is very tasty spring or summer food. I know I should be more seasonal but I am fed up with stews etc at the mo.

Enjoy.

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