Show Us Your Tuna Salad Recipe - Here's Mine!
Tuna Salad for Tuna-Haters (The One True Tuna Salad)
The secret of this tuna salad, and what makes it tuna-hater friendly, is that the role of the tuna is more that of condiment than main ingredient. It could, and probably should, be called Tuna-Kissed Apple and Onion Salad.
Here is how to make it:
First, prepare the tuna. Get one of those little foil packets (3 ounce size) of white tuna in water. Wash the tuna in more water, squeeeeeze it as dry as you can, and squirt some lemon juice on it, about half a lemonsworth.
The goal of this step is to remove any traces of oil from the tuna, and replace that with lemon juice.
Do NOT do this with a fresh lemon unless you have very good eyesight, or are using a juicer of some kind, because if a lemon seed falls into the tuna, it will be impossible for you to see.
Now take a big granny smith apple and cut it up, Episcopal chop. You do not have to peel it (unless you are from South Carolina and thus obliged by some mysterious force to peel everything that can be peeled and some things that can't). As soon as it is chopped, drench it with vinegar, so it won't turn brown. You can use lemon juice, but the vinegar will add more flavor to your tuna salad.
Now cut up a big Vidalia onion, Episcopal chop.
Throw apple, onion, and tuna into a big bowl.
The combined volume of chopped apple and onion should be roughly 3-4 times that of the volume of tuna.
Put in some Hellman's Mayonnaise, some cayenne pepper (African is the best, but use what you've got, and of course, if you don't like too much flavor or "zing" in your food, leave it out) some salt and lots of black pepper), and a scant capful of Balsamic vinegar. If you like, you can substitute low-fat sour cream or fat-free yogurt for some or all of the mayonnaise, but it will give the finished product a different flavor, which you may like better, or you may not.
Mix all that up and taste. Think of putting it onto bread for a sandwich. Yes, you need more mayonnaise. Plop some in.
Keep tasting and adjusting until it is right, then cover the bowl and let it sit for a while at room temperature so the flavors can blossom and marry.
When you are ready to eat it, you can just plop some on a plate and have at it, or you can make a sandwich with it, or you can hollow out a tomato, half a sweet bell pepper, or if you are really good at hollowing things out, an apple or an onion, and fill it up with your tuna salad, sprinkle it some dill on it, and/or some more cayenne, (or paprika if you are zing-averse).
(If you want to serve it to guests in some hollowed-out fruit or vegetable or other, resting on lettuce leaves or sprinkles of the bagsalad of your choice, be sure to set out some slices of that miniature party bread, and little dishes of mayonnaise, mustard, poppy-seed dressing, etc to give people the option of making their own mini-sandwiches).
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I don't peel my tomatoes, peaches or potatoes!
