Tuna night: Learning to love the canned stuff in your pantry
It’s time to end tuna snobbery, said Kari Sonde in The Washington Post. If you’ve become a fresh-tuna purist, “face your fears and embrace the canned stuff.” It has merits of its own, and some days it’s the only option in the kitchen.
How is it better? In her new cookbook, Dinner in French, food writer Melissa Clark admits preferring canned tuna in a niçoise salad, as other French traditionalists do. “The niçoise salads I ate in France when I was a kid all featured good canned tuna,” she writes, “the kind so richly infused with olive oil it was the ocean equivalent of butter.” Europe’s coastal regions seem to have the right attitude— and the first dish below might bring to mind a light dinner in Portugal.
Below that is a Marcella Hazan recipe that we recently rediscovered, said Food52.com. It’s from Marcella’s Italian Kitchen, where the legendary cookbook author noted that the secret is that the tuna isn’t cooked before being tossed with the hot pasta.
Recipe of the week Lemon-dressed farro, tuna, and chickpea salad
Grated zest of 1 large lemon 5 tbsp fresh lemon juice ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup farro, cooked per package directions, then cooled (about 3 cups cooked) 1¾ cups canned no-salt-added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
7 oz canned, oil-packed light tuna, flaked 1 cup diced sweet onion
¼ cup chopped, loosely packed parsley
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest, juice, and oil to form an emulsified dressing. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. In a large bowl, combine cooled farro, chickpeas, tuna, onion, parsley, and lemon dressing. Toss to incorporate. Adjust seasoning as needed. For best flavor, refrigerate at least 2 hours. Serves 6 to 8.
Fettucini col sugo di tonno con aglio e panna
1 7-oz can of tuna packed in olive oil
½ tsp garlic chopped very fine
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp butter, softened to room temperature ²⁄³ cup heavy cream
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano
Reggiano
¾ lb boxed dried fettuccine
Drain tuna of all its oil and place in a bowl. Add garlic, parsley, egg, butter, cream, salt, liberal grindings of black pepper, and grated cheese. Mix well, using a fork to break up and mash the tuna. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed.
Drop pasta into a pot of abundant boiling salted water and cook until it is done but firm to the bite. Drain and toss immediately with the tuna mixture. Bring to table at once, with additional grated cheese on the side. Serves 4.
Note: The best canned tunas, according to Cook’s Illustrated, are Tonnino Tuna Fillets in Oil (sold in jars) and Ortiz Bonito del Norte Albacore White Tuna in Olive Oil. Lower-priced options that are recommended include Starkist Selects Solid Yellowfin Tuna in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Starkist Solid White Albacore Tuna in Vegetable Oil.