Tuna, Quinoa and White Bean Salad

While searching the web for ‘light and healthy’ meal ideas, I came across this recipe. It sounded tasty, so I thought I would try it out.

I have made a few minor changes, most notably using dry beans instead of canned. This is certainly not necessary, but adds a lot of flavor to otherwise ordinary canned beans. I have also increased the amount of quinoa and reduced the amount of parsley.

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 2 hours

For the beans

100g dried cannellini beans (or other small, white bean)
¼ tsp garlic granules
¼ tsp onion granules
¼ tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt

Spread the dry beans on a baking sheet and pick out any bad beans or rocks. Rinse the beans thoroughly and add to a container that will hold at least 4 times the volume of the beans. Add a couple heavy pinches of salt and cover the beans with 3x their volume of water. Let set overnight (i.e. 8 hours).

Drain the soaking water and add beans to a 2-3 liter saucepan. Cover with water by 2-3cm. Bring to a boil and let cook for 10 minutes. The water will form a scum on the surface. Either skim the scum off or drain and rinse the beans, then re-cover with water by 2-3cm.

Add garlic granules, onion granules, dried thyme, bay leaf and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring just to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Cover and cook until beans are tender, about 60-90 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow beans to cool. Drain. Liquid can be reserved for soups, or simply discarded.

For the salad

cooked cannellini beans (see above)
200g (1 cup) tricolor quinoa (uncooked)
300g canned tuna, oil packed (see notes)
¼ cup fresh parsley, minced
2 lemons, juiced and zested (~50-70ml juice)
2-3 scallions or 1-2 spring onions, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Avocado, diced [optional]

Directions

In a small saucepan bring 500ml water to a boil with ½ teaspoon of salt. Add the quinoa, cover and cook at low boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, leave the lid on and steam for another 5 minutes. While the quinoa is cooking prepare the rest of the salad.

Drain the tuna and discard the oil (not down the sink!). If necessary, break up larger chunks into bite size pieces. Place the tuna in a large bowl.

Add the parsley, zest and lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well to combine in the tuna. Adjust seasoning as necessary.

Add the scallions and cannellini beans. Toss to combine, taking care to not have the beans break apart.

When the quinoa is finished cooking, drain and fluff it with a fork. Let it cool for 5 minutes, then toss it into the salad. If needed, add a little more lemon juice and add a drizzle of olive oil over the salad . Toss gently to combine and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Dice the avocado in 1cm cubes and mix into the salad. If you will not be eating all of the salad in one meal, you may wish to cut up only as much as you need and add it to the individual portion(s). This will prevent the avocado from browning in any stored salad.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

Chef’s Notes

1. If using canned beans, use a drained 400g can of small white beans (e.g. cannellini).
2. While not absolutely necessary, if you can afford to splurge, using premium tuna (e.g. Genova, as called for in the original; or Ventresca, my personal favorite) makes a notable difference.
3. If you don’t have fresh lemons, bottled lemon juice will also work. However, the zest from the lemons really adds additional brightness to the salad.
4. I have left avocado as optional, but I highly recommend adding diced avocado.

Should the link to the original recipe become broken, credit to Maria Reina at Food52. Original recipe posted 1 May, 2015.