Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad

This tasty Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad is easy to toss together but it’s full of flavor and makes a wonderful starter or light meal. 

One pantry staple we are never without is tuna in a can. Many an afternoon I hear the snick-snick of the can opener and either my husband or daughter is opening a can to eat with fork, straight from the can. It’s one of my favorite things to eat as well. 

That said, often of a morning you will find me boiling eggs in the Instant Pot, just to make my southern-style tuna salad. Where I come from, tuna salad has to have boiled eggs in it! I love to eat it on soft sandwich bread or piled high on Triskets. 

Back in my college days, what I called tuna surprise was one of my favorite meals. It required just three ingredients: noodles, cream cheese and a can of tuna. 

Bonus Tuna Surprise recipe: Just boil the noodles and drain. Add the cream cheese to the hot pot of pasta and stir till melted. Add tuna and stir again. This is seriously delicious and a relatively cheap, warm bowl of comfort food. If you want to get fancy, pour the whole pot in a casserole dish and bake till browned on top but that step is not really necessary.

Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad

This recipe is adapted from one in New York Times Cooking. According to the original author, it’s a mainstay in her house since it uses ingredients she usually has on hand for an easy light meal. I added a few ingredients but would still wholeheartedly agree.

Ingredients – Serves 4-6 as a starter

1 jar (6.5 oz or 185g) marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained and 1/4 cup or 60ml marinade reserved

1 small or 1/2 medium red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced 40g

1 small red chili pepper, minced

2 teaspoons cider vinegar 

1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 (12-oz or 340g) can water-packed albacore tuna, drained

1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans or borlotti beans, drained through a strainer and rinsed

Several sprigs Italian parsley leaves, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Baby spinach to serve, if desired

Method

Place the onion and chili pepper in a bowl and add the vinegar. Leave to marinate. 

Pour the vinegar into 1/4 cup or 60ml of the reserved artichoke marinade and then whisk in the Dijon mustard and yogurt. Add a pinch of fine sea salt and a few good grinds of black pepper.

In a large bowl, combine the artichoke hearts, beans, onion and chili pepper.

Add the tuna and pour on the dressing. Toss gently to coat. Garnish with parsley. 

Serve as is or put a small handful of baby spinach on each plate then top with the artichoke tuna bean salad. 

Enjoy!

It’s the second Friday of the month which means it’s time for my Fish Friday Foodies to share recipes. Today’s theme is Fish from a Can. I love this theme! Canned fish is tasty and convenient. I always have sardines, tuna, anchovies, smoked oysters, salmon, etc. in my pantry so I can’t wait to see all the other canned fish recipes. Check them out below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Food Lust People Love: Artichoke Tuna Bean Salad 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Keto Tuna Melt Chaffle 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Smoked Clam Dip 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Spicy Salmon and Potato Croquettes 
• Palatable Pastime: Tuna Melt
• Culinary Cam: Growing an Appreciation for Tinned and Jarred Fish + an Anchovy-Artichoke Egg Salad Recipe

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

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Southern-style Tuna Salad

My Southern-style tuna salad is an old family recipe, the one I grew up with. It’s like egg salad but, of course, with added tuna, like we make it in the Southern United States. 

Another short tale. Many years ago, I was on the board of the American Association of Malaysia. Once a month, we would meet to deal with association business and we would bring dishes to share for a working lunch. 

One month I made tuna salad sandwiches. They were fancy sandwiches, crusts cut off, this recipe inside. We were discussing some item on the agenda when the chairperson stopped short and looked right at me. “Your egg salad has tuna in it!” she exclaimed. My retort was “No, my tuna salad has eggs in it! Doesn't yours?” 

A lively discussion by the whole board (a mixed group of Americans from all over) followed whereby I learned that there seems to be a north-south divide. In the northern US states tuna salad does not have eggs, southern-style tuna salad does. Who knew? 

Growing up, this is the way I remember my grandmothers and my mother making the “dressing” for not only tuna salad but also potato salad (at least on the days when no one had the wherewithal to whip up homemade mayonnaise.) Homemade mayo was always preferred but, you know, who has time for that? (Another parenthetical aside: My elder daughter would disagree. She always has time for that and she is a pro at homemade mayo! But she is not with me right now and I cannot be bothered.) 

Southern-style Tuna Salad 

You can chop up the egg yolks along with the whites and just add them to the tuna salad but you’ll miss the opportunity to enrich the mayonnaise and mustard dressing and make it seem more like homemade. Trust me, it makes a difference in flavor somehow. 

Ingredients

4 hard-boiled eggs

2 cans (5 oz or 142g) wild-caught chunk white albacore tuna in water

1/2 cup or 120ml mayonnaise

2-3 tablespoons yellow mustard

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 medium onion

To garnish: chopped green onions and a good sprinkle of cayenne

Method

Drain the canned tuna in a sieve and use the can lid to press out as much liquid as you can. If you don't the tuna salad will be a bit "wet."

Cut the boiled eggs in half with a sharp knife and put the yolks in a mixing bowl. Mash them with a fork. 

Add in the mayonnaise, mustard and seasonings then grate in the onion. I use a microplane so the onion is very fine (and juicy) because I like the flavor but personally don’t like to find crunchy bits of onion in my tuna salad. You are welcome to mince the onion with a sharp knife if onion bits don’t bother you. Mix well. 

Chop the egg whites and add them to the mixing bowl, along with the tuna. Mix well to combine. 

Garnish with some chopped green onions and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, if desired. 

Chill until ready to serve. This tuna salad is great on bread rolls, sliced bread or crackers. It is perfect for a picnic. Just bring it chilled in the cooler, provide the appropriate starchy things and let everyone help themselves! 

Enjoy! 

This month my Fish Friday Foodie friends are going on a picnic. Check out all the picnic friendly recipes below! Many thanks to our host and organizer, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Fish Bread Rolls from Sneha’s Recipe
• Salmon Salad Spread from Palatable Pastime
• Shrimp Louis Sandwiches from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Southern-style Tuna Salad from Food Lust People Love  
• Surimi (Imitation Crab) Salad from Karen's Kitchen Stories

Are you a food blogger who would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas. 

Pin this Southern-style Tuna Salad! 

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Ginger Sesame Tuna Tartare #FishFridayFoodies

Ginger Sesame Tuna Tartare is a light and flavorful starter made with good quality tuna, marinated briefly in ginger, soy, sesame oil, rice vinegar and honey. Sprinkle on some black sesame seeds for color and crunch.

This month I am hosting Fish Friday Foodies. As you can probably guess from the list of recipes we are sharing, I picked tuna as our main ingredient. I love the wide variety of tuna available from frozen to fresh, canned to jarred, in water or oil. It's a simple ingredient that can be made into comfort food or something fancy.

Unfortunately, all tuna is not responsibly sourced so it’s a good idea to check with an organization like the Monterey Bay Aquarium to make sure yours is in the recommended list before you buy. Mine actually said "responsibly sourced" so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

We enjoyed this for lunch but you could divide the tuna into four smaller ramekins as a starter or indeed, you could serve this ginger sesame tuna tartare scooped onto individual rice crackers to pass around on a tray.

Ginger Sesame Tuna Tartare

To make it easier to cut into small cubes, I recommend popping your tuna, wrapped in cling film, into the freezer for about 15-20 minutes before starting. It cuts much more evenly when it’s firmer. Or use frozen tuna to start with, like I did, leaving it to thaw briefly before cubing. 

Ingredients to generously serve two
2 cloves garlic
3 spring onions, minced, ends of greens not so fine for garnish
1 in or 2.5cm piece ginger, peeled
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
12 oz or 340g quality tuna steaks

To garnish:
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

To serve:
1 ripe avocado, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Rice crackers – store bought or make your own homemade. It's easy!

Method
Mince the cloves of garlic and chop a couple of tablespoons of the spring onions in rounds and set them aside for garnish. Chop the rest of the spring onions finely.

Add the garlic to a large bowl with the rice vinegar then grate in the ginger. Leave to marinate for a few minutes.

Add the spring onions, soy sauce, sesame oil and honey. Mix well and set aside.

Cut your tuna into small cubes. See note above about freezing it slightly first, if time allows. A sharp knife is also key. Discard any fibrous parts.

Add the tuna directly to the bowl of sauce and mix until combined.

Line two small bowls or round ramekins with cling film. Pile half of the tuna tartare into each vessel and push it down gently to compact.

Turn the tuna out onto serving plates.

Peel and cut your avocado into pieces, adding them to another mixing bowl. Sprinkle lightly with the lime juice, salt, pepper. Stir gently.

Spoon the avocado around the tuna.

Sprinkle on the black sesame seeds and green onions for garnish.

Serve with rice crackers.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other fabulous tuna recipes my Fish Friday Foodies are sharing today!

• Causa Rellena from Caroline's Cooking
• Cold Avocado Yakisoba with Chile-Kissed Ahi from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Deviled Eggs with Tuna, Capers, and Chives from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Easy Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole from Making Miracles
• Ginger Sesame Tuna Tartare from Food Lust People Love
• Lightly Seared Yellowfin Tuna atop Greens and Rice Pasta Salad from Of Goats and Greens
• Tuna In Tomato Salad from Sneha's Recipe
• Tuna Reuben from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

Pin this Ginger Sesame Tuna Tartare!

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