Summer is arguably one of the best seasons for produce in the UK, whether you’re growing your own fruits and vegetables or finding them in the shops. It’s a time of year that inspires us to switch out our favourite comfort foods in favour of something crisp and refreshing.
Every summer as soon as the sun begins to beat down on us, my mum takes out a well-loved recipe book from her collection to make one salad in particular. You know it’s well-worn when the pages are half stuck together, splattered with the remnants of previous cooking escapades. One of our favourite recipes to brighten up our summer table is a Delia Smith twist on an “old Italian favourite” — a tuna and cannellini bean salad packed with zingy zestiness and crisp textures.
The salad screams “summer” whenever I see it on the table. It’s full of contrasting flavours which assault the tastebuds in every direction.
If you don’t like sharpness or fish in your salad, sorry, this salad isn’t for you. But for me and Mum, it’s one we’ve come back to for years.
Delia commented in her book: “This is my version of an old Italian favourite, and I think the addition of a sharp lemon dressing and some buttery rocket leaves gives a lovely edge.”
I couldn’t agree more, Delia.
While the body of the ingredients may seem lacklustre, the dressing is – quite literally – golden, pairing wonderfully with the saltiness of the tuna, tang of the red onions, and elevating the flavour of the otherwise bland cannellini beans. The sauce is also far more refreshing than other mayo-based or creamy salad dressings; it’s sharp on the tongue, making you salivate with each mouthful.
While I will list the full recipe below, Mum and I do make some modifications to the salad. Delia’s recipe calls for soaking the beans overnight before boiling them, but personally, we don’t see the point.
Serving the beans cold makes the salad fresher and adds a different texture to the mix, something soft but not too soft. It contrasts nicely with the crisp lettuce leaves, another swap we make.
While the bed of the salad listed below uses rocket, the leaf can be a polarising one, so as to make it more palatable for more mouths. Instead we use leaves of gem – Romaine – lettuce.
They work nicely as little hammocks for the beans and tuna to cradle themselves in, as well as creating a little nest for the sauce.
This salad reminds me of summer, with Mum cracking out her battered cookery book every year without fail. Forget the classic tuna Nicoise or Greek salad, you’ll never find those on our table.
Ingredients
- 9 oz (250 g) cannellini beans
- 2 x 200 g tins tuna fish in oil
- 1 oz (25 g) rocket, stalks removed
- 2 oz (50 g) red onion, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
- salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the dressing:
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- grated zest 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 rounded teaspoon black peppercorns
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 level tablespoon Maldon sea salt
- 1 heaped teaspoon mustard powder
Method
Begin this the night before you are going to make the salad by placing the beans in a bowl and covering them with cold water to soak.
The next day, drain the beans, then put them in a large saucepan, cover with fresh water and bring them up to a simmering point. Boil for ten minutes, then cover and simmer gently for one and a quarter to one and a half hours, or until tender. Meanwhile, empty the tuna fish into a sieve fitted over a bowl and allow it to drain, reserving the oil.
Then, to make the dressing, first crush the garlic and salt using a pestle and mortar till the garlic is pulverised, then work the mustard powder into this. Now push the mixture to one side, add the peppercorns and crush these fairly coarsely.
Next add the grated lemon zest, along with the lemon juice, olive oil and three tablespoons of the reserved tuna oil (the rest of the tuna oil can be discarded). Whisk everything together very thoroughly, then, when the beans are cooked, drain them, rinse out the saucepan and return the beans to it. Now pour the dressing over while the beans are still warm, give everything a good stir and season generously.