Pesto Tuna Salad

I like recipes that are fairly easy to make but regular tuna salad can also be a little bland. So lately, I have been experimenting with things I can add to tuna salad to give it a little oomph. I tried Sriracha and that was tasty but when I tried swapping out the mayonnaise used in regular recipes with pesto, I realised that had a real winner on my hands. If you do not have any pesto on hand, I have included a recipe for you to use.

Ingredients:

Pesto:

Four cups (1 litre) of packed fresh basil

A Quarter cup (60 ml) of pine nuts, toasted

A quarter cup (60 ml) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

One clove of garlic, finely chopped

Two tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice

A quarter cup (60 ml) of olive oil, approximately

Salt and pepper to taste

Salad:

Five ounces Tuna, canned

Two tablespoons of Pesto

Lettuce leaves for

One half of a small Cucumber, sliced thinly

One squeeze lemon juice

Directions

In a food processor, place all the ingredients for the pesto. Pulse the processor until the mixture is finely chopped and the basil, pinenuts, cheese and garlic are well mixed. Add the lemon juice and pulse a little more until mixed. Add the oil in a thin stream while processing on low until the mixture comes to a creamy texture. It is okay if it still looks a little grainy.

Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for the flavours to blend.

Take the pesto out of the fridge.

Drain the tuna and place it into a bowl. Add the pesto to the tuna. Mix well and add the lemon juice.

Place the lettuce leaves on a small plate and top with the tuna salad mixture.

Notes:

Normally I do not include ingredient amounts in more than just one form, but the recipe for the pesto came with them already included and I decided to leave them in.

I prefer to use premade Pesto as the basil leaves are hard to find especially since my friend moved away. She had a green thumb and always had a ton of fresh basil leaves on hand in exchange for a cup of coffee and conversation.

I have made pesto a few times and the flavour is really enhanced by toasting the pine nuts. I have made it with toasted and untoasted and while there is a flavour difference, it tastes good either way.

For the cheese, I have made it with both storebought and freshly grated. It tastes good either way but using freshly grated cheese adds a more sophisticated touch to the final product.

I go through so much garlic that I save time by buying it pre-minced. It really is a time saver. The same goes for the lemon juice. This recipe uses a small amount so there is no reason to cut up an entire lemon for such a small amount as you can use store bought.

Make sure to drain the tuna well. If you do not, the salad ends up being a soggy mess and not that great to look at. It will still taste the same just look pretty unappetising.

You can handle the cucumber one of two ways. I sometimes mince it finely so it can mix better with the salad. The other way is to eliminate the lettuce leaves for serving and instead, slice the cucumber into slices and top it with the pesto tuna salad. If you use the lettuce leaves, you can use them to make wraps for the salad. It depends on what you are in the mood for.