my favorite tuna salad

I get emails from time to time asking me what I, as someone who works from home mostly, eats for lunch. I can tell you this much: it’s not glamorous. Often, I’m so busy that I barely have time to toast a piece of bread and spread some peanut butter over it, and lots of recipes I test don’t a proper lunch make, unless you want to argue that cake, especially if it includes a vegetable or two, can be justified as lunch.

There have been times, I’ll admit, to heating up Trader Joe’s chana masala, and before you shake your DIY finger at me in judgement, I just would like to say: Trader Joe’s makes a mean chana masala. How? I don’t know, but they do.

Generally, it’s not uncommon for me to be reheating whatever dinner leftovers we have, and unlike my husband, I love leftovers. Of course, as a last resort (or an insanely strong banh mi craving), there’s always take out.

On days when I allow myself to take a wee break to compose my lunch, there’s a fun trip through the pantry. I’m generally good at cobbling together a decent lunch for myself when time allows. Today was one such day. And I decided to make myself my favorite tuna salad.

For a few years, I went through a phase when even the mere smell of canned tuna, no matter the quality, sent me running out of the room, gagging. Recently, I’ve returned to once again liking tuna, and though I eat it infrequently, for sustainability reasons, I treat myself to this salad now and again.

The salad’s premise is quite simple: lots of texture and crunch, and lots of contrasting flavors. I like to add celery, apple, and red onion for crunch; golden raisins for flavor and a softer texture; pine nuts for a firm yet soft feel and a note of sweetness, a pinch of salt, and a generous helping of freshly ground black pepper. Because I’m a lover of acid, I add a bit of sherry vinegar to give the salad a little contrast. I use both excellent extra virgin olive oil (I like the aggressive oils from Sicily like Frantoia), and a bit of mayonnaise to bind everything together. Mayo haters: I’ve used Greek yogurt in the past with much success. Celery haters: I also like a mix of dill and parsley. For the sake of argument, I once tried mint, and didn’t like it, but that’s just my palate. And mostly for beauty, though I really like the taste of them, I like to throw in a few celery leaves on top. It makes for a beautiful plate of something (tuna salad) that’s not normally referred to as beautiful.

And that’s about it. I like to skip the bread here. Not because I’m some kind of a carb hater, but because it tends to make me a little sleepy. This way, I am alert, nourished, and delighted at having just made (and eaten) my own lunch. And that makes me look forward to the rest of my day!