It is not often in one’s life that a chance arises to espouse the many virtues of the illustrious tuna salad but as luck would have it, this Monday morning Make Your Market blog post presents such an opportunity today. Underrated, under-appreciated, tuna salad has for too long been the last scrawny kid picked for softball; that unmatched sock at the bottom of your dryer you forgot to throw away five months ago and now it’s a weird crust-sock and possibly not even a sock at all.
Here’s a tip: Look up “tuna” on Thesaurus.com and you’ll find among the list of synonyms words like “honorable,” “gallant,” even “hunk.” Why? Because Thesaurus.com knows what’s up. That’s why.
Anyway, there’s a point to all this and that point is: I have a recipe for tuna salad. It’s a recipe that’ll be equally appealing to both the frozen, mini-pizza bagel lover and the discerning gourmand who knows what Kabocha squash is and how to cook it. Also, several of the ingredients, as per newfound tradition, were sourced Sunday at the glorious Newport Beach Farmers’ Market, a community gathering even more delightful (if you can believe it) than tuna salad itself.
Trust me, after you read this easy-to-assemble and won’t-break-your-healthy-resolutions recipe, you’ll never think about tuna salad the same way again. Same goes for Thesaurus.com and that disgusting sock.
Ingredients
- 2 cans of Albacore tuna (make sure it’s low salt)
- 1 handful of fresh basil or mint, rough chopped (I get my fresh herbs from Divine Harvest Family Farms at the Farmers’ Market)
- 1 jalapeño pepper, diced (again from the Newport Beach Farmers’ Market)
- 1 avocado, cut into small chunks (yes, a Farmers’ Market find)
- 2 tsp. mayonnaise
- 1 tsp. cold-pressed olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
In a bowl, combine the tuna, mayonnaise and olive oil. When you remove the tuna, be careful to drain out all the water or risk making a watery, goopy tuna salad that will be nowhere near the awesomeness of the dish we’re putting together …
Add jalapeño and avocado. Mix until combined but do not let the avocado get mushy. (A close second to a watery, goopy, tuna salad is a mushed-avocado tuna salad.)
Top with basil and a drizzle of olive oil.
Literally that’s it. Sit back and enjoy the tuna-rific irreproachability of what you’ve just created because yes, it’s that easy and yes, it’s that good.
