Category Archives: Basics

Not your mother’s tuna salad

I’ve always been a fan of tuna salad and I have many fond memories of tuna, celery, and mayo sandwiches. It was always chunk light tuna, packed in water. Then I switched to solid white, also packed in water, but then switched to half and half due to the higher mercury content in white tuna. And now I’ve become a fan of tuna packed in olive oil instead of water. I guess you could say “lesson learned” from dating an Italian.

I also try to pick pole and line caught tuna. It’s a little more expensive, but I think worth it. Here are six reasons to choose pole and line tuna from Greenpeace Australia Pacific:
  1. Fewer sharks, turtles, whales and dolphins will be killed.
  2. It’s easier to keep a lid on overfishing.
  3. Tuna species under pressure will be given a break.
  4. More local fishermen will be employed.
  5. Developing coastal nations will benefit.
  6. It won’t hurt your hip pocket!
Not your mother’s tuna salad
Serves: 4
Adapted from Food & Nutrition magazine, January/February 2016

Tuna salad
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cans (5 ounces) tuna packed in olive oil
1/4 cup Greek olives, roughly chopped
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, thyme, and garlic. 

2. Mix together tuna, olives, and feta.

3. Serve over mixed greens or with some crusty bread.

Tomato puree

Beautiful tomatoes!

Tomato puree – what a great way to deal with my tomato overload problem last week! Plus it forced me to pull the food mill out of the box (it was a Christmas gift last year). The food mill was much more intuitive to figure out than the mandolin was!


Simmer action

I used Martha’s recipe for the blanching and peeling of the tomatoes, and then attempted to make a chunky marinara with peppers, onions, and chicken sausage. The tomato puree was great (and pretty easy), but the marinara was a bit of a fail because I added too much red wine for the amount of tomatoes I had (1/2 cup wine) and I added it to the pepper, onion, sausage mixture thinking it could simmer and reduce. Unfortunately this turned the sausage into a wine color…so the ultimate product did not taste bad but it certainly wouldn’t win any points for appearance.


Tomato puree
Makes: about 3 cups

Ingredients
Food mill

2 1/2 pounds fresh tomatoes, a mixture of plum and beefsteak

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions
Puree!

1. Fill a medium pot with water and bring to a boil. Prepare a separate bowl of ice water. Remove core and slice an X into the bottom of each tomato with a paring knife. Lower tomatoes (a few at a time) into the boiling water and blanch for 15-30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to remove the tomatoes from the pot and immediately plunge into the ice-water bath until cool enough to handle. Pull off each peel, using the paring knife. Tear beefsteak tomatoes into pieces.


2. Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat, until fragrant and sizzling, but not brown. Add tomatoes and season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until tomatoes are falling apart and are reduced slightly, about 15 minutes.

3. Pass the tomatoes through a food mill fitted with the fine disk into a bowl (or puree in a food processor and strain out seeds). If not using immediately, let cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or the freezer for 3 months.

Yogurt

Five years ago I drove out to western MA to take a cheese-making class taught by the “The Cheese Queen”, Ricki Carroll. I had first heard about her and the class when I was reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Her web site is also where I get my supplies.

It has been awhile since I’ve used any of these skills, but I decided to try to bring back the yogurt-making since I’ve been digging smoothies in the Ninja. One of these days I will also get back to attempting to master the mozzarella stretching.

Make sure you have a good thermometer, yogurt cultures (I’m a Y5 girl), ice, and something insulated to let the yogurt set (like a Yogotherm). I like to ice the bottom of my pot for a few minutes before heating the yogurt…it supposedly prevents the milk from burning on the bottom. My milk doesn’t usually burn, but it usually leaves a bit of a film which makes the pot a little challenging to clean.

Heatin’ the milk

Yogurt
Source: Ricki Carroll
Makes: a lot!

Ingredients
1/2 gallon milk (any percentage)
1 packet yogurt direct set culture
1/4 cup dry milk powder

Directions
1. Heat milk to 185 degrees F. Let stand for 10 minutes. Do not allow the milk to boil.
2. Cool the milk to 110 degrees F using an ice bath.
3. Pour the milk into the Yogotherm. Add the packet of culture and the dry milk powder and stir thoroughly.
4. Allow the yogurt to set undisturbed for 6-12 hours, or until set.
5. Refrigerate immediately. Yogurt will keep for at least 7 days.

Egg salad

I decided to go back to basics with a good old fashioned egg salad. Even when I haven’t had a chance to go to the grocery store, I usually have eggs and the other ingredients for this recipe on hand. It’s also quick and very easy, and having an egg slicer makes it even easier!

I like the celery and red onion because it gives it some color and crunch, but it’s also tasty without. I sometimes substitute plain Greek yogurt for half of the mayonnaise. As you can see, I usually cook four eggs at a time and halve the egg salad recipe.

When I pack this for lunch, I put the egg salad in a separate container and assemble a sandwich when I’m ready to eat so the bread doesn’t get soggy.

Boilin some eggs

Hard-cooked eggs
Source:  Everyday Food
Makes: 1 dozen

Directions
Place 12 large eggs in a large saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 inch, and bring to a rolling boil. Cover pan and remove from heat. Leat stand for 12 minutes, then drain and rinse under cool water. To store, keep eggs, unpeeled, in the refrigerator, up to 4 days.

Egg slicer magic

Egg salad
Source: Everyday Food
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients
1/2 cup light mayonnaies
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp white wine vinegar
8 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, minced
1/4 small red onion, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, and vinegar until smooth. Add eggs, celery, and onion; season with salt and pepper, and mix to combine.

Open-faced sammie