White Bean Tuna Salad

White Bean Tuna Salad



I was at my Mom and Dad's house over Mother's Day weekend.  My mom showed me this cookbook she had just purchased and I really liked the looks of many of the recipes.  I ended up ordering the cookbook for myself.  I have decided I should really cook my way through this book.  For the first recipe, I just had to purchase a few items... red onion and cannellini beans and arugula.  I had the remaining ingredients on hand.

I really like this salad.  This salad would be great over arugula or baby spinach as stated in the recipe instructions.  Unfortunately I purchased a really bad batch of baby arugula!  The container was full of inedible woody stems.  I kept thinking to myself, "This is BABY arugula! When did it have time to grow tough woody stems!"  Bummer.  The arugula did have a nice peppery bite to it but, if you are not a fan of arugula, spinach would be great.  I portioned my salad into four servings to eat over a few days, so I chose to not mix in the greens until just before eating.  It worked well this way.  I drizzled some fresh lemon juice over the greens just prior to eating and I think it added a lot.



White Bean Tuna Salad from Better Homes and Gardens "Skinny Dinners"

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 5-ounce cans tuna packed in water, drained (I used albacore tuna)
2 cups lightly packed arugula or spinach
1/2 of a small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped (I substituted a little dried Italian parsley)***
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 of a fresh lemon

In a very large bowl, combine beans, tuna, arugula, red onion, and parsley***.

For dressing, in a screw top jar, combine vinegar, oil, oregano, salt, and pepper.  *** If you are using dried parsley in place of fresh parsley, add the dried parsley in with the dressing ingredients.  Shake well to combine.

Pour dressing over tuna mixture; toss gently to combine.  Squeeze juice from 1/2 a fresh lemon over salad



If you are making this salad ahead for meals for a few days, you will want to keep the greens and the tuna-bean mixture separate like I did.  Otherwise your greens will wilt... no good!  I squeezed over a little fresh lemon just before eating each portion.