RECIPE: WORLD'S BEST TUNA SALAD

True confession: I don't cook for me. If the husband isn't home, it's a peanut butter sandwich, or a bowl of cold cereal, nine times out of ten.

So if I do pull out a recipe and actually cook, you know whatever I'm fixing has got to be really, really good. What you'll find below all this verbiage is the recipe for the world's tastiest tuna salad. Put away all thoughts of any tuna salad you've ever had. This isn't one of those. My cousin Pat brought it to the Cousins' Night Out, and it was so scrumptious I got the recipe. Today was the third time I've fixed it just for me, because the DH doesn't like tuna. (Except for my brother's home-canned. I think the husband would eat that straight out of the jar.)

Gingered Tuna Salad

You'll need:

• 1 12 oz can tuna fish in water
• 2 tsp Curry powder
• 1 TB Olive oil
• 1/4 c Minced red onion (1/2 small onion)
• 3 TB Crystallized ginger chunks
• 1/3 to 1/2 c Mayonnaise (1/2 cup will make it more moist, but 1/3 cup will have fewer calories and fat)
• 1 TB Rice vinegar (or 1 tsp white vinegar and 2 tsp water)
• 1 tsp prepared Dijon-style mustard
• 1/4 cup Chopped pecans
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 dash Cayenne pepper, to taste

Drain the tuna and set aside. In a small saucepan over low heat, saute curry powder in olive oil for five minutes, stirring every so often.

While curry powder is cooking, mince the red onion. Chop the crystallized ginger into small pieces, about the size of the minced onion.

In another bowl, whisk to combine mayonnaise, rice vinegar, and Dijon-style mustard.



Add cooked curry powder mixture (make sure to scrape it all), crystallized ginger, onion, chopped pecans, salt and dash of cayenne pepper. Whisk again.

Gently fold mixture into the tuna, until well blended, and the fish is coated with dressing.


To serve, line 4 plates with a cup or so of chopped lettuce, top with tuna salad and ring with rounds of crusty bread, quartered cherry tomatoes, and baby carrots, if desired. (Or use what you have on hand, which is what I did.)
This salad is excellent served chilled or at room temperature.

Without those crusty rounds of bread, this recipe is also extremely low in carbohydrates, for those of us who are watching our carb intake. I don't allow myself to have carbs at all untill dinner time, so this is a wonderful lunch choice for me.

Yield: 3 cups salad; serves 4 or so.