White Beans & Tuna
~ Mary ~
We LOVE this salad and have made it more than three times in the past six weeks. The flavors are subtle, clean and spectacular! This is one of the absolute best ways to cook beans Ever! And soaking them for two days really helped on the gas – Thanks for that tip Patty!
I made a whole pound of beans and saved the extra for one of the best white bean soups – that’ll get posted towards the end of the month. You can also just freeze the extras with their broth until you’re ready to use them. I found this recipe in Bon Appetite magazine.
White Beans
Soak a pound of dry cannellini (white) beans for two days – rinsing at least once each day and refilling with fresh water.
In large saucepan over medium high heat combine:
2 Quarts Chicken Broth
1 Tbsp WHOLE Peppercorns
4-6 Fresh Sage Leaves
A Good Drizzle of Olive Oil
1 Whole Garlic Pod cut off at the top with the bottom intact
Simmer until cooked all the way through about 45 minutes to an hour.
Drain – SAVE the broth, but pick out the sage and garlic. The peppercorns are fine to leave in. You can peel the garlic and use it or just toss.
The Salad
On a bed of mixed greens layer:
WARM or room temp beans
Finely Sliced Red Onion
Pan Seared and sliced Tuna
Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil
That’s IT! Dig IN!
This looks so pretty for being so simple. You need to teach people how to properly cook tuna. It seems like I see it made wrong all the time.
Gorgeous. Delicious. Simple and perfect for January and getting over excess!
What a great recipe! And I love your photos..they really make me want to make this dish.
thanks Kathy! nothing’s stopping you – get on it girl
very nice looks wonderful!
This looks much prettier than mine. (It probably tastes better too.) Of course it might help if I wasn’t using tuna from a pouch.
thanks Pamela! The original recipe CALLS for canned or pouched tuna – I might even try it that way if I run out of my frozen tuna fillets. I have a couple cans in the cupboard – probably would just give it a good rinse to dilute some of the strong canned flavor. I really think the key in this recipe is the fresh sage leaves and serving the beans just after they’ve cooled down.
It seems that your peppercorns come in many different colors, almond, red, green, black? The ones I usually have here are red or dark brown.
By the way, I heart your way of preparing the beans.
Thank you!
I got a big jar of colored peppercorns from a restaurant supply store – or they would be all black.
Love this glamourous version of the simple tuna salad, thank you.
The common quick meal version in Italy uses tuna (from a good quality can), cannellini beans (in a hurry can also be from a can), finely minced red onion and excellento evo – yours is better, of course!
Thank you Carmelita!
I think the quick version would be delicious too!
Simple flavors but oh so delicious.
What a presentation!
beautiful dish! I love that it’s light and hearty at the same time
I love the way you prepare beans. This looks so good and the pictures are gorgeous.
I love it. Very savory…
Love how you cook your beans.
LL
I found many unique ingredients including peppercorns in colors at my local bulk food store. I found it going to http://www.discoverbulk.com. You type in your zip and the local store list comes up. Great savings in these economic times.
This looks totally gorgeous! Just saw it on foodgawker and just had to come and take a look!
That looks nice and tasty and healthy and good!