Are you looking for a tuna salad recipe to die for? If so you have come to the right place. To make the best tuna salad you should always remember that what is in your pantry is allowed to dictate the ingredients that go into your salad. A recipe was not designed to be religiously followed, but rather used to inspire the chef or cook. That said, a tuna salad recipe will be of great assistance in assembling the greatest tuna salad you have ever eaten… or maybe just lunch for one in a hurry!
The most popular tuna salad recipe is tuna pasta salad and it is made with a base of small pasta shapes cooked al dente and then tossed with tuna chunks and a sauce or oil of some kind. Generally a creamy sauce is used because it helps holds the tuna and pasta together in a nicely textured mix. One of the problems people have when they make tuna salad without a tuna salad recipe is that they don’t use any sauce and this can make for a very disjointed salad that is not appetizing because of its habit of falling off the fork in separate bits, and possessing no unifying tie to poll the flavors together.
Tuna pasta salad can be made warm or cold, but remember food safety and never attempt to make a warm tuna salad if needs to sit out at room temperature for any length of time. Bacteria breed much faster in warm conditions and it is better, if you are taking a dish for a potluck or picnic, to make a well-chilled tuna pasta salad along so that it will stay cold and safe for longer.
Since there are many combinations of ingredients to actually create a tuna pasta salad, here are some ideas for you to get started and mix your own in a flash. There’s no need to stick rigidly to rules in the kitchen – some of the best recipes were simply delicious serendipitous accidents that someone thought to write down afterwards!
A packet of pasta in spirals or shells, cooked al dente, is always a good start. You can use macaroni instead, but shells and spirals tend to be a perennial favorite because of their ability to “catch” a sauce. Then, of course, take your canned tuna – tuna in pure olive oil is of the highest quality and tastes the least “fishy” of tuna in water, brine and oil. Mix these ingredients with your choice of cold steamed green beans, rinsed canned 3-bean mix, chopped capsicum, white or red onion, thinly sliced celery, parsley, chopped garlic and any other ingredients you like to eat.
Finally, toss salad with a mixture of yogurt and mayonnaise, or, if it’s a warm salad, make a thin white sauce to pour over the ingredients and combine well. You can add pepper, salt and a squeeze of lemon juice to set off the taste of your own tuna pasta salad, having created your very own tuna salad recipe as you were going!
If you would like to see what others have come up with there are some great tuna salad recipes at http://www.food.com/
