Tuna Salad
Start with the Right Tuna for You
I have a warm place in my heart for tuna salad sandwiches. They got me through many-a-meal as a young housewife. Truth be known, tuna salad was the only thing I knew how to make when I got married. Years later when I was chasing four kids around the house each day, I’d still open a can of tuna for a quick lunch.
But in recent years my tuna consumption has lagged the national average. That is, until I discovered Wild Planet tuna. It has all sorts of healthy sounding messages on the label and the product is chunky and moist.
Buy the Best Tuna You Can Afford
Wild Planet has both a Wild Albacore and Wild Skipjack Tuna, water packed and oil packed. If you buy the water version and later decide you’d like a bit of oil, drain, and add a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Whatever you do, always enliven your tuna with real mayonnaise; salad dressing is not mayo.
Sandwich toppings can add further bliss to your salad. Romaine lettuce or fresh tomatoes or even mild pepper rings go well.
Your Own Art Form
There’s no need to post an exacting tuna salad recipe. You already have a basic recipe in your head. And everyone in food blogging from Betty Crocker to Guy Fieri has something they call The Best Tuna Salad. They’re all very similar.
The No-Recipe Recipe
So instead of a recipe, I’m listing a number of ingredients, that work in a good tuna salad. Pick what you like for the right balance of crunch, salt, tartness, and sweet. Spread the tuna on bread or crackers. Stuff it into pita pockets or tomatoes. Wrap the mixture in lettuce leaves, if you like, or eat it straight from the bowl—as I often do.
It all begins with a can opener. Enjoy!
Ingredients That Work Well in Tuna Salad
- celery
- red onions and/or green onions
- real mayonnaise
- lemon juice
- capers
- hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- Dijon mustard*
- sweet or dill pickles**
- sliced almonds
- apple
- parsley
- avocados
- salt and pepper
* Use only a dab of Dijon mustard or it will overwhelm the tuna.
** I prefer chopped sweet pickles, rather than relish; I use just a bit of the juice to thin the mayo mixture.
