Tuna Salad

It would get absolutely hot and muggy in Tampa, FL when I was a kid.  And it was several years before we had any kind of air conditioning.  And I remember my favorite hot summer dinner that Mom would make–Tuna Salad.

She’d do it early in the morning before everything got too hot and then she’d pop it  in the fridge to chill down for dinner.  I’m talking about simple, homemade tuna salad.  This is something I still really enjoy eating on a hot summer night always accompanied by a stack of saltines to add their salty crispness to the meal.

And I never really had a recipe for it…I just kind of knew how to make it from watching my Mom do it all those years.  But I like to kick it up with just a bit more crunch fresh vegetables including fresh jalapeno.

So, we’re getting into that time of the year.  Last week we had our first 100 degree days here in Vista and I know that there’ll be more before fall takes over—whenever that may be.

If you’ve never made it, you’ll love the simplicity and how inexpensive it is.  And if you make it now, well maybe there’ll be an idea or 2 in here for you.

(Print version at end of post)

Tuna Salad

• Ingredients
  2 Cans 5 oz. each Chunk Lite Tuna in water
  2/3 cup chopped onion
  2/3 cup chopped celery
  2/3 cup chopped bell pepper
  16 oz elbow macaroni or other small shaped pasta
  ¼ cup mayonnaise or “salad dressing”
  Salt
  Garlic powder
  Cumin
  Black Pepper

Directions
Get out your pasta pot, cutting board, chef’s knife, a large bowl and colander.
Turn the stove on high and fill your pasta pot about 2/3 with water.  Add a couple of teaspoons of salt.
Put the pot on the stove and bring to a rolling boil.  Add the pasta.
Chop up the vegetables and toss them into the bowl. 
Open up the tuna.  Drain it well (just push down on the lid once it’s open and upend the can over the sink drain.
Dump the tuna into the bowl.
Check the pasta. You want it “al dente”.
Remove pasta from stove and drain it into the colander.
Rinse pasta with cold water (you normally wouldn’t do this to pasta but this is to “shock” it, cool it down and stop it cooking).
Dump about half the pasta into the bowl.
Add the mayonnaise/salad dressing.
Add seasonings.  How much? ENOUGH.  Why cumin?  Because WE like cumin!
Stir, stir, stir then add the rest of the pasta or however much of it you want—sometimes I only use about ¾ of it.
If it’s too dry, add another spoonful of mayo and stir some more—you’re going to refrigerate this for several hours and it will absorb some of the moisture from the mayo..  Taste test.  Adjust seasonings.  (Remember, you can always add more but once seasoning is in, you can’t take it out.  I’ve messed up a lot of dishes over seasoning too soon).
Put a cover on the bowl—plastic wrap if nothing else and put it in the fridge for 3-4 hours minimum.
When you take it out of the fridge, taste test it again and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Serve this with saltines on the side.

(Print version at end of post)

Now this is really simple, isn’t it?  Right out of the late 1950’s early ‘60’s.  But that’s OK because this is good.  And it’s also really, really good on one of those days that’s “butt stinkin’ hot” as my stepdaughter Megan likes to say.  It’ll cool you down and fill you up.  And, you cooked early in the day and don’t have to put the effort into it after you get home wilted, hot and tired.

So I guess I’ll just call this hot weather comfort food.

The Cheap Bastid Test:  Well, this is pretty reasonable.  It’ll easily serve 4 for dinner with leftovers for the next day.  2 cans of tuna cost about $1.80 on special.  The pasta about $1 on special and the fresh vegetables were on hand but let’s call them $1 too.  Add about $.50 for the rest of the ingredients and you come up with $4.30.  That’s cheap!

That’s the Cheap Bastid Way:  Eat Good. Eat Cheap. Be Grateful!