This room temperature main course salad is one of our safe dishes, meaning that it’s one of the ways we still get to eat healthily at home, even if we return to the apartment very late (last night it was the Henry Kaiser/Weasel Walter Large Ensemble at JACK). It’s another one of Mark Bittman’s 111 Quick Meals , entrées which can be prepared – optimistically – in ten minutes or less. Two months ago I wrote about what I could describe as our most popular winter choice from among the list. In fact however, either meal is suitable for any season, and each is as delicious as it is quick and easy.
The better the beans, and the oil-packed tuna, the better the salad; I’ve used many different brands of beans, but this time I used Whole Foods’ ‘365’. The tuna was from Tonnino tuna (I don’t remember where I had picked up the jar). I also used onions from John D. Madura Farm, and rosemary from Phillips Farm.
The New York Times kitchen wizard would almost certainly approve of any sensitive alteration, even if it might add a minute or two to the timetable. That could mean including some salad greens placed under or tossed with the bean-tuna mixture, and I’ve occasionally added dried red pepper flakes, or halved ripe cherry tomatoes. This time I passed on greens, chiles, or tomatoes, and I saved us a couple of minutes.
- this is Bittman’s recipe, number 8 from his addendum to his original list of 101, exactly as he published it in 2007: 8 Bean-and-tuna salad: Good, olive-oil packed tuna is a must here: Combine two cups of cannellini beans, drained, with a minced red onion, a can of tuna, olive oil and salt and pepper as needed. Chopped sage is great in this, as are rosemary and basil.
- the wine was a Spanish white, Shaya old vines, verdejo Rueda 2013
- the music was David Matthews’ ‘Music for Solo Violin, Volume One, ‘Fifteen Fugues’