Italian-inspired tuna salad with pasta

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I assume many of us grew up with tuna salad. And by that, I mean tuna with mayonnaise either on a sandwich or if you’re from the UK, on a baked potato.

This is not that tuna salad.

If you can find it, I would recommend using jarred tuna packed in olive oil. The flavour is far superior to canned tuna.

This is a lovely summer dinner, quick to assemble, and keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

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Italian-inspired tuna salad with pasta

Italian-inspired tuna salad with pasta

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 jars of tuna in olive oil, drained (reserve the oil for the dressing if you choose)

• 1/2 head of fennel, chopped

• 1 red onion, diced

• 4 artichoke hearts, chopped

• 1 small jar of roasted red peppers, drained and chopped

• 2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

• 1/2 cup chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

• 1 tbs capers, drained

• 1 package of pasta, cooked al dente
  * I used a gluten-free rotini pasta here, but you can use the pasta of your choice.

Dressing

• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil (you can use some or all of the oil from the tuna for extra flavour)

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 tsp salt

• freshly ground black pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Chop all vegetables, except the capers. I like to keep the ingredients of a similar size, around 1/2 inch dice and place in a serving bowl with room to toss the ingredients together.

2. Drain the tuna, reserving the oil.

3. Cook and drain the pasta.

4. To make the salad dressing, place all ingredients in a jar with a tightly fitting lid and shake to combine.

5. Add the pasta and tuna to the vegetables, pour over the dressing and mix.

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