Here’s a main dish salad for a hot day (we’ve had a lot of those this summer!). It’s full of flavor and loaded with protein.

You can make the salad vegan by substituting about 1 cup of gently smashed garbanzo beans for the tuna. Or use your favorite bean (we like garbanzos because they have a texture similar to tuna when they’re smashed a little).

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Tuscan Tuna Salad
Blue * Serves 4

1 can (15 ounce) cannellini beans
1 can (6 ounce) water packed albacore tuna, drained
2 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 cup minced red onion
2 Tablespoons fresh basil or parsley, (dried is fine but cut in half)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Sucanat®
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
leaves of romaine
fresh parsley for garnish
1/2 lemon, cut into four wedges

In a large bowl, combine beans, tuna, tomatoes, red onions, and basil/parsley. Stir gently to avoid smashing the beans.

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over salad and mix well. May be served immediately or chilled before serving.

Line four salad bowls with the romaine leaves, and scoop the tuna salad evenly among the bowls. Sprinkle with a little fresh parsley and serve with a lemon wedge.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.