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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Piña Colada Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

A delicious treat of the tropical cocktail in cake form, this Piña Colada Bundt Cake is made with pineapple, coconut cream and, of course, rum. It is brushed after baking with a coconut pineapple rum syrup/glaze.

Once upon a time, a boy and a girl got married. He wanted to surprise her with the honeymoon so he only said, pack for a beach holiday. So she did. But the funny thing is (and it wasn’t so funny back then) the suitcases went to the Bahamas and the couple went to Barbados. Which was a big surprise for everyone. 

They consoled themselves by ordering cocktails by the pool where they could sit around in the hotel bathrobes and gift shop I 💙  Barbados t-shirts. Many, many, MANY consoling piña coladas were consumed before the suitcases turned up four days later. And they lived happily ever after. 

I’d say “The End” but there’s cake to come!  A tender, pineapple-y, coconutty cake with rum. Read on. 

Piña Colada Bundt Cake

For your canned pineapple, buy the kind in juice, not syrup, so you’ll have the necessary juice for the coconut pineapple rum syrup/glaze. This recipe is adapted from one on Real House Moms. It makes one 6-cup Bundt cake. 

Ingredients

For the cake batter: 

1 1/2 cups or 190g flour, plus extra for preparing the Bundt pan

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup or 100g sugar

1/3 cup or 75g softened butter, plus extra for preparing the Bundt pan

1 egg

1/2 cup or 120ml coconut cream

1 1/2 teaspoons aged rum 

1/2 cup or 90g chopped, canned pineapple, drained juice reserved

For the coconut pineapple rum syrup/glaze:

3/4 cup or 150g sugar

1/4 cup or 60ml pineapple juice

1/4 cup or 60ml dark rum

3 tablespoons coconut cream 

Optional for decorating:

a few good pinches sweetened flake coconut

diced canned pineapple

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Generously butter then flour a 6-cup Bundt pan. 

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add the egg and beat until well mixed.

Add the rum and coconut cream and mix until incorporated.

Tip the pineapple bits in the flour bowl and stir them around till they are coated with flour.  Now add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and beat until the batter is light and glossy. 

Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan and even out the top with a spatula. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the coconut pineapple rum syrup. Cook the sugar, pineapple juice and rum together in a small pot over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and it has reduced by about one half. 

Take the pot off the heat and leave the mixture to cool. It will thicken up more as it cools. 

Whisk in the coconut cream.

Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes then remove cake from pan and cool completely.

Brush with the cake with the syrup/glaze. I spooned the syrup/glaze over the cake to start with but a lot just dripped off despite how thick it was so brushing it on seemed to work better. Keep brushing it on as the syrup/glaze soaks in. You may not use all of the syrup/glaze.

Decorate with a little sweetened flake coconut and bits of the canned pineapple, if desired. 

Enjoy! 

This month my Bundt Bakers are all sharing boozy Bundt recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha's Recipe. 

• Caramel & Rum Upside Down Pineapple Bundt Cake by Sneha's Recipe
• Coffee Liqueur Bundt Cake by Patyco Candybar
• Lemon Rum & Coconut Bundt by Sweet Sensations
• Mojito Bundtlets by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Piña Colada Bundt Cake by Food Lust People Love
• Rum Cake by Passion Kneaded

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Piña Colada Bundt Cake! 

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists #BreadBakers

These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists are made with an enriched brioche dough filled with peanut butter and chocolate chips and baked till golden. Enjoy them with a cold glass of milk or a cup of tea.

I’ve always been a fan of peanut butter cups but find they are a little too sweet for me these days. Recently I was introduced to the Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups and, boy, howdy, are those guys good! 

They were my inspiration for this month’s Bread Bakers’ theme which is “favorite breads.” Who wouldn’t love a soft brioche twist filled with the perennial favorite combination of peanut butter and chocolate?

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists

This recipe is adapted from James Morton’s first fabulous baking book, Brilliant Bread. I also have one of his other books, Super Sourdough and can highly recommend both. If you have a stand mixer, I recommend you use it for this recipe. The dough is really sticky to knead by hand. 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon dry active yeast

1/3 cup or 78ml milk, slightly warmed

2 cups or 250g strong white bread flour -18g

1/4 cup or 57g sourdough starter (fed or discard)

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup or 75g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup or 194g creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup or 85g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sugar and yeast with the warm milk and two tablespoons of the flour. Leave it for about five minutes. If the yeast has started foaming up, proceed with the next step. If not, your yeast is old and should be replaced. 

Add the flour, the sourdough starter, egg, yolk, milk and salt and combine to form a soft dough. 

Knead your dough for about 5–10 minutes, or until it is really starting to come together.  Add the soft butter and continue to knead until it passes the windowpane test, at least another 5 minutes. 

Cover and leave in a warm place to prove for one hour, or until doubled in size. Alternatively, leave to rest in the fridge for 10–14 hours.

Turn your proved dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle some more flour on top. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a big square about 15 in or 38cm wide. 

Spread the peanut butter over one half. If your peanut butter is too stiff to spread easily, warm it slightly with a couple of quick zaps in a microwave. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the peanut butter. 

Fold your dough over to seal the peanut butter and chocolate chips. 

Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into strips. I got 10 strips out of mine but you can cut thicker or thinner strips, according to your preference.

Twist each strip and place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone liner. I couldn’t squeeze all 10 in one pan, try as I might. If yours are also too much for your biggest pan, put the remainers in a smaller pan. Don't crowd them because they need room to rise. 

Cover lightly with cling film and leave to rise for about an hour. At least half an hour before you’re going to bake, preheat your oven to 450°F or 232°C.

When you are ready to bake, turn your oven down to 410°F or 210°C and bake the twists for 10–15 minutes, until they are a light golden brown. We want them to stay soft and pillowy. 

I meant to turn my pans around halfway through because I know my oven doesn't brown evenly but we were watching the UEFA 2020 final and I completely forgot. If your oven has the same issues, you might want to turn your pan around at about the 7 minute mark. Also the extra ones were on a different oven shelf and got a bit darker. Still soft and delicious though! 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking pan for a few minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, our Bread Bakers' theme this month is Favorite Breads. Many thanks to our host Kelly of A Messy Kitchen. Check out the great recipe links below. 

• Blueberry Pistachio Chocolate Sourdough from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
  
• Cinnamon-Honey Raisin Bagels from What Smells So Good?
  
• Cranberry Yeast Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Garlic Rolls from Passion Kneaded 
• Hemp and Honey Whole Wheat Bread from Ambrosia
  
• Lemon Zucchini Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
  
• No Knead Sourdough Sandwich Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Boule from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists!

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