Tuna Salad with a Twist

I've always had a love-hate relationship with canned tuna. Growing up Catholic, it was a big part of my diet, what with all the Lenten Fridays in my past. Tuna salad or tuna casserole were weekly occurrences, with occasional break for frozen fish sticks. Mom always bought the solid albacore in spring water, which I thought was too dry. But chunk light was too mushy and not as tasty. Once I got out of Catholic school and started feeding myself, I stopped eating tuna entirely. That is, until I discovered sushi.

Mr Minx likes canned tuna, though, especially the solid albacore, so I started eating tuna salad again. I never even thought of using canned tuna in any way other than salad or casserole, but then I got a couple cans of tuna from Tonnino, a company known for their fancy jarred tuna (like tuna belly, the yummiest, fattiest, part of the fish). They've just started offering tuna in cans, two varieties of solid 100% yellowfin--packed in spring water and packed in olive oil--and they sent us both to sample. I didn't want to smother this high quality fish in mayonnaise, so I had to come up with a different way of serving it. I thought the oil-packed stuff would be great in a salad Nicoise, but I didn't have any of the other components on hand. What I did have, however, were cans of cannellini beans, and I recalled that tuna and bean salad was a thing. I also had lemons and celery and cherry tomatoes, so they were going to play a part. I wanted to make it a little more substantial but not heavy, so I added quinoa, too.

What a great combination of textures and flavors! Crunchy veg and quinoa, tender beans, meaty tuna, lots of lemon. So good! And so much tastier than tuna with mayo.

I really liked the mild flavor of the Tonnino tuna in spring water. It wasn't fishy, and it didn't seem dry. And I like that they have finally given the nod to canned fish, because while the jarred tuna is pretty, cans stack better in the pantry!

Tuna and Cannellini Bean Salad with Quinoa
I used celery two ways in this dish, but you can use it all raw or all cooked, if you prefer.

1/2 onion, diced
1/4 red (yellow or orange) bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced (divided use)
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Few sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup quinoa
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
Pepper
1 4.94-ounce can Tonnino Yellowfin solid pack tuna in spring water, drained
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (quartered if large)
2 radishes, diced
Chopped parsley

In a medium saucepan, cook the onion, pepper, and half the celery in a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a big pinch of kosher salt over medium heat, stirring regularly, until vegetables have softened. Remove veg to a large bowl and add the beans and the leaves from the thyme sprigs. Cover and refrigerate.

Put the quinoa and 1 cup of water in the same saucepan that you used to cook the veggies. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook 10-12 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow the quinoa to sit for an additional 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and add to bowl with beans and veg, stirring to combine. Cover and refrigerate until cool, at least 1 hour.

Make a dressing with the lemon juice, mustard, honey, and a some olive oil (I like equal parts acid and oil, but YMMV), beating with a fork to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When the quinoa and beans are chilled, pour over the dressing and toss. Add the tuna, tomatoes, radishes, and remaining celery and toss again. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or lemon juice, as needed. Garnish with parsley.

Serves 4.

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Bloody Mary Beef

Sometimes a recipe sounds better than it actually is. I got excited about one for Bloody Mary Beef from Jamie Oliver's new Comfort Food cookbook. I like a good Bloody Mary on occasion, and think the flavors of horseradish, Worcestershire, and tomato would be smashing with beef. And it is, but if one follows the recipe to the letter, the flavors are a bit weak. Too much tomato, not enough anything else. But, if one ups the amount of aromatic Worcestershire sauce, adds horseradish (found in the original internet version but not in the cookbook version), and re-seasons the dish before serving, it's actually pretty good, with a nice depth of flavor

If I tinkered with it enough, I could probably make it great. For now, though, this is a pretty good stew to make when you have a bit of time on the weekend. It's great with horseradish mashed potatoes, but it makes such a large amount, you'll find yourself serving it again later in the week as a pasta sauce or with rice.

Bloody Mary Beef (a Jamie Oliver recipe, with some alterations)

Olive oil
1 2lb beef chuck roast
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
1 bunch of celery, trimmed and cut into 2" lengths
2 red onions, cut into eighths
1 32oz can of tomato puree
5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
3 tablespoons vodka
Juice of 1 lemon
2 fresh bay leaves

Heat a large pot or dutch oven over high heat and add the olive oil. Pat the roast dry and season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Brown meat on all sides, about 10 minutes total, and remove from pan. Add celery and onion to the pan with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften.

In a bowl, stir together the tomato puree, Worcestershire, horseradish, Tabasco, vodka, and lemon juice. Put the browned meat back into the pot on top of the vegetables and add the tomato mixture plus one cup of water. Toss in the bay leaves.

Bring mixture to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover pot and cook meat until fork tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours. Remove meat from pot and shred with two forks or slice thinly. Add back to pot and stir well. Cook an additional hour. Taste for seasoning, adding salt, pepper, and additional Worcestershire and Tabasco, if necessary. It's not going to taste exactly like a Bloody Mary, but you want to at least get the idea.

Serve with horseradish mashed potatoes.

Serves 6-8.



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Okra Etouffee

Who doesn't like okra? So delicious! I know, right?

Wait. You say you don't like okra? What? And neither do you, or you, or you?

Poor okra doesn't seem to have many friends. But I love it, and so does Mr Minx. Yeah yeah, I can hear you whining now, "it's slimy! ewwww!" Shut up. It's not slimy at all if you cook it correctly. And it tastes great, a little like green beans, I think.

So we had this huge bag of okra from the CSA, and it was going to go bad if we didn't use it up pronto. I decided we should make an okra etouffee, so consulted teh Innernets for a recipe. Just about every one I found involved dumping okra in a casserole, covering it with tomatoes, and then baking it. No, no, no...I wanted an etouffee recipe, like crawfish etouffee or shrimp etouffee. Stuff smothered in a roux-based sauce. Not just stuff smothered with other stuff. So I threw one together based on an old crawfish etouffee recipe I've used in the past. Roux + trinity + stock and seasonings. Add okra, simmer for a while et voila! Okra Etouffee.

Okra Etouffee

3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup diced onion
1 bell pepper, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (we like Emeril's Essence)
2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 lb okra, sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Steamed white rice for serving
Chopped scallions for garnish

Melt butter in a large pot. Add the flour and open the windows. Stir flour and butter together over medium-high heat until the mixture is medium-dark brown, a bit darker than peanut butter. It will smoke, but as long as you are stirring constantly and watching it like a hawk, it should not burn. Once the roux reaches a nice brown shade, dump in the onion, bell pepper, and celery. Inhale deeply, for the scent of trinity cooking in roux is one of the best cooking scents there is. Stir the vegetables and roux until veg are completely coated. Turn the heat down to medium, add a big pinch of salt, and cover the pot. Allow the vegetables to soften, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Add the garlic, Cajun seasoning, chicken stock, and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Stir in the okra. Cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes, until okra is tender. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, more Cajun seasoning, a bit of hot sauce, whatever floats your boat.

Serve over white rice and garnish with chopped scallions.



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