Broiled Tuna and Pepper Salad

April 16, 2015

One thing I really love about these books is the variety. I mean, everyone makes potato salad the same general ways... a variety of crunchy vegetables like celery, onions, and pickles, maybe a little color with mustard and a little zip with a splash of vinegar, but they always have mayonnaise. It's nice to learn new recipes that don't have this delicious but high fat ingredient. And it's nice to change things up a little... although I'm the first to say that you can't go wrong with a classic recipe.  I feel excited for the next pot luck because I have a new pasta, potato and tuna salad recipe that are sure to bring on the compliments. Here's the new take on Tuna fish... it includes tuna "steak".

Broiled Tuna and Pepper Salad

GTLF: Main Dish Salads p. 104

Serves 4, working time 30 min., total time 35 min.

3/4 pound tuna steak
1/4 C reduced sodium chicken broth, defatted
2 cloves garlic
1/2 C low sodium tomato vegetable juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
19 oz. can white kidney beans (cannellini), rinsed and drained
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 C sliced radishes
1/2 C sliced scallions

1. Preheat the broiler. Brush the tuna with the broth. Broil the tuna 6 in. from the heat, turning once, for 5 min. or until just barely opaque. Set aside to cool, then cut into bite size pieces.

2. In a small pot of boiling water, cook the garlic for 2 min. to blanch. Drain and finely chop.

3. In a large bowl, combine the chopped garlic, tomato vegetable juice, vinegar, oil, basil, salt, and black pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, radishes, and scallions, tossing to coat thoroughly. Gently fold in the tuna and serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

Nutritional Information: 8 g fat, 280 calories, 1.5 g sat. fat, 25 g carbohydrate, 27g protein, 29 mg cholesterol, 682 mg sodium.

Tips:

1. Tuna steak is a fleshy, rosy pink colored fish you can buy at the seafood counter of the grocery store. Try it! I'm not sure how this dish would be different if you used the canned tuna.

2. Step three says to fold the tuna in gently because it will tend to separate. GTLF explains that tuna is very soft, but once cooked, it forms a much more firm texture. However, it's still vulnerable to flaking so this is why you should be careful.