:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/__opt__aboutcom__coeus__resources__content_migration__serious_eats__seriouseats.com__2020__05__20200506-tuna-white-bean-salad-sasha-marx4-9f750beff5c040e59eb45beb0dbe3493.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "White Bean and Tuna Salad Recipe")
Why It Works
- A small amount of bean cooking liquid inside the dressing helps type a sturdy emulsion that enhances the flavour of the beans inside the salad.
- Briefly soaking sliced purple onion in ice water helps soften its pungent chew.
- Marinating the onion slices briefly in vinegar and salt pickles them a little bit of.
- This salad is delicious when served at cool room temperature, making it good strategy to make use of pantry components like canned tuna and dried beans inside the spring and summer season.
This conventional Italian salad marries cooked white beans and oil-packed tuna for a protein-packed, pantry-friendly, mild meal that’s glorious for warmth local weather. With a lot of individuals stocked up on dried beans these days, we’ve got been engaged on numerous recipes to put a batch o’ beans to good use. With spring lastly proper right here, and summer season merely throughout the nook, we’re transferring away from heartier stews, and leaning into bean dishes like this one, which requires little to no additional cooking, and could also be served at room temperature.
Along with creamy, cooked white beans and rich, flaky oil-packed ventresca (tuna abdomen), this salad choices sensible and crisp sliced purple onions, which are first soaked in ice water for a few minutes to temper their pungent chew after which quickly marinated with vinegar and salt to current them a quick-pickle pop of acidity. The vinegar used to marinate the onions and the juice that the onions launch inside the course of collectively type the underside of the dressing for the salad. We spherical it out with a little bit of bean cooking liquid, which acts as a flavorful emulsifier for the vinaigrette (if we’ve got not effectively remodeled you to cooking dried beans, we now have moreover provided instructions for making this recipe with canned beans, too), fruity olive oil, chopped latest parsley, and a great deal of freshly ground black pepper.
The salad is hearty nonetheless mild (when you want to add further greenery to the mix, it moreover pairs properly with additions like peppery arugula or watercress), and requires solely about 5 minutes of labor, making it the correct no-cook, quarantine-pantry, warm-weather meal.
Might 2020
White Bean and Tuna Salad Recipe
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1/2 purple onion (about 4 ounces; 116g), decrease into 1/8-inch thick slices
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1 tablespoon (15ml) Champagne, white wine, or purple wine vinegar plus further for drizzling
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Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
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3 cups (1 pound 6 ounces; 625g) cooked dry white beans, drained, or two (15-ounce; 425g) cans low-sodium white beans, drained and rinsed (see observe)
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5.6 ounces (160g) olive oil-packed tuna (from two 3.88-ounce (110g) cans), ideally ventresca (tuna abdomen; see observe), drained and gently flaked into 2-inch objects
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1 medium garlic clove (5g), minced or finely grated
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1 tablespoon (15ml) bean cooking liquidfrom a pot of beans cooked from dry (see observe if using canned beans)
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1/4 cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil plus further for drizzling
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1/4 cup (1/2 ounce; 16g) finely chopped latest parsley leaves and tender stems
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In a small bowl, combine purple onion and enough ice water to cowl. Using clear arms, gently scrunch and squeeze the onion slices, taking care to not crush or break them. Let onion slices sit in ice water for quarter-hour, then drain and discard ice water, and return purple onion to now-empty bowl. Add vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon (1g) salt and toss and gently therapeutic therapeutic massage onions to evenly coat with vinegar and salt. Put apart for 5 minutes to allow onion slices to marinate.
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Within the meantime, combine beans and tuna in an enormous bowl. As quickly as onions have marinated for 5 minutes, squeeze onion slices to launch moisture into the bowl that they marinated in, then change onion slices to huge bowl with beans and tuna; set huge bowl aside.
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There should be not lower than 1 tablespoon (15ml) of vinegar-onion juice liquid left inside the small bowl. Add garlic, bean cooking liquid (or, if using canned beans, 2 teaspoons [10ml] water plus 1 teaspoon [5ml] Dijon mustard), and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, and whisk to combine. Whisking all the time, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Stir in parsley and season to type with salt.
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Swap dressing to huge bowl with bean-tuna mixture, using a rubber spatula to scrape your complete dressing into the large bowl. Gently toss salad to evenly coat with dressing, taking care to not crush tuna or beans inside the course of. Season to type with salt and pepper. Divide salad between specific particular person serving plates or one huge serving platter, drizzle flippantly with olive oil and a splash of vinegar, and serve.
Notes
On account of this dish is comprised of only some components, it’s at its best when made with high-quality merchandise. Cooked dried beans (and their cooking liquid) have considerably higher style and texture than canned beans, so we extraordinarily advocate using them on this recipe, if attainable.
The usual of the tuna you make the most of will make a distinction proper right here. We advocate oil-packed ventresca tuna, which comes from the richer, fattier abdomen; it’s moister and additional flavorful than totally different canned or jarred tuna. We similar to the ventresca from every Ortiz and Tonnino.
If using canned beans, substitute bean cooking liquid with 2 teaspoons (10ml) water and 1 teaspoon (5ml) Dijon mustard. The flavour of the dish clearly won’t be exactly the an identical, nonetheless mustard provides comparable emulsifying properties as a result of the bean cooking liquid for the dressing.
Make-Ahead and Storage
This salad is at its best the day it’s made, nonetheless could also be refrigerated in an airtight container for as a lot as 2 days. Convey to relax room temperature sooner than serving.