Most of the time, making a delicious meal is as easy as having good ingredients on hand. You can probably make this salad with any type of canned tuna, but I do think using a tuna packed in olive oil would be best. My mom picked up Genova Tonno canned tuna from Costco a while back, and it works perfectly. In fact, I’m pretty sure everything you need for this salad is available at Costco. 😀

Ingredients:

1. one can of Genova Tonno tuna
2. mixed greens
3. ripe tomatoes
4. one English cucumber
5. two spring onions or 1/4 of a small sweet onion

For the dressing:

1. one fragrant lemon (Yes, it must be fragrant! WAHAHAHA. I got my lemon from my friend, Eleanor. :D)
2. balsamic vinegar
3. olive oil
4. white and black pepper
5. sea salt

Optional ingredients for a super fancy salad…that ends up looking suspiciously like a Cobb salad:

1. feta cheese
2. crumbled thick-cut bacon
3. baby bell peppers in assorted colors
4. one avocado
5. A POACHED OR HARD-BOILED EGG per person (emphasized in all caps, since eggs make just about everything better)

Assembly:

Dice everything that isn’t naturally bite sized! That means the tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions/onion, bell peppers, avocado, crispy bacon and egg. If you’re using baby bell peppers, you can slice them so that they turn into little colorful rings. Assemble the salad by placing the mixed greens in the bottom of a large mixing bowl, and then load the goodies on top. I like to mix one portion at a time so I can be sure everyone gets an equal amount of the toppings, and so that everything gets evenly coated with the dressing.

For the dressing, the magical ratio (according to a bunch of cooking shows and the Internet) is 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. To maximize lemony flavor, I used zest from half of the lemon as well as the juice. Lemons can be a bit bitter, so it’s a good idea to taste the juice, and then balance out the bitterness with the sweet, round flavor of the balsamic vinegar. Then, add olive oil until you hit the 1:3 ratio. (I super like the tuna flavor, so I actually put the canned tuna juice/oil into the dressing as well. Is that weird? Please don’t judge me.) Then, simply add pepper and salt to taste.

As you can probably tell, this salad is super easy to make and pretty healthy to boot. I really like the aroma that the lemon and white pepper add to the dressing, since they give the salad a brightness that goes well with the oily tuna.

Please enjoy, and let me know if you make it! 😀 Comments and suggestions are welcome!

About luciables

I love to cook and eat, but above all, I love to eat with friends and family.