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When I lived as a student outside Florence, Italy, I was always on the lookout for great lunches that I could afford. We were fed dinner through my program (always pasta, always red sauce), but at lunch we were left to fend for ourselves. While I would have loved to frequent the wood-burning pizza restaurant down the street or twirled spaghetti at the trattoria on the square, these options were well outside my meager budget.\n<\/p>\n
In time, I discovered that I could eat like royalty thanks to the local alimentari. Alimentari are the Italian versions of a deli or bodega with a decidedly gourmet bent. They vary in what they stock, but the one I frequented sold a little of everything\u2014cat food, toilet paper, sliced-to-order salami and prosciutto, fresh pasta, cheeses, and most important to this starving student: salads. There, I discovered a tuna-based salad so incredible that I still make it weekly for lunch.\n<\/p>\n
This Italian tuna salad was the antithesis of my mom\u2019s monochrome white tuna and mayonnaise \u201csalad.\u201d It was a brightly colored, vibrant-tasting, chunky tumble of moist tuna, roasted red bell peppers, tangy kalamata olives, minced red onion, parsley, and toasted pine nuts in a lemony vinaigrette. It was so awesome I bought a small container of it almost every day for a year and even got to know the sweet mom-and-pop proprietors, who gave me a metal fork to keep and use to eat my daily salad, knowing I was kitchenless.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Ali Redmond<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n The key to this salad is in the shopping. You must use olive oil-packed tuna. A more common sight in Europe, it\u2019s moister than water-packed tuna and comes with all the olive oil you need to dress the salad, right there in the can.\n<\/p>\n If I\u2019m feeling flush, I buy Spanish brand Ortiz tuna in the oval can. It\u2019s a near-solid chunk of meaty tuna with a fresh flavor packed in buttery extra-virgin olive oil. But, at around $6.99 a can, it\u2019s a splurge. In most cases, I opt for a more economical choice of tuna packed in olive oil like imported Italian Genova ($2.49), Starkist ($1.99), or Target\u2019s Good and Gather brand ($2.99)\u2014they all make a fine salad.\n<\/p>\n The trick is to refrain from draining the tuna. The olive oil in the can has tons of flavor and serves as half of the dressing for the salad. I add just a tablespoon of lemon juice to balance out the oil and the dressing is done.\n<\/p>\n As for the vegetable mix-ins, I stick to the same ingredients as the salad I remember from Florence: roasted red bell peppers, pitted kalamata olives, red onion, Italian parsley, and pine nuts. But truthfully, it\u2019s a very adaptable equation. Toasted blanched almonds are a thrifty alternative to the pine nuts. Fresh bell peppers or peppadews can be substituted for the roasted bell peppers. I\u2019ve even used canned California olives in a pinch when I\u2019m kalamata-free.\n<\/p>\n The most important thing is the olive oil-packed tuna. With that in the pantry, I can relive my not-so-starving student salad days at a moment\u2019s notice.\n<\/p>\n Simply Recipes \/ Ali Redmond<\/p>\n <\/span> <\/p>\n To make two servings, you\u2019ll need:\n<\/p>\n Pour the tuna and olive oil from the can into a small bowl. Add the peppers, olives, parsley, pine nuts, onions or shallots, and lemon juice or vinegar to the bowl and toss gently with a fork, making sure not to break up the tuna too much. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.\n<\/p>\n Leftover tuna salad can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n #ItalianStyle #Tuna #Salad #Recipe #minutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I lived as a student outside Florence, Italy, I was always on the lookout for great lunches that I could afford. We were fed dinner through my program (always pasta, always red sauce), but at lunch we were left to fend for ourselves. While I would have loved to frequent the wood-burning pizza restaurant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[842,69,60,106,105],"class_list":["post-1062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dinner","tag-italianstyle","tag-minutes","tag-recipe","tag-salad","tag-tuna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoz.xyz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Key Ingredients for This Tuna Salad <\/span> <\/h2>\n
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n How To Make My Italian-Style Tuna Salad <\/span> <\/h2>\n
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More Easy Lunches <\/span> <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n