Italian Tuna Salad with Roasted Whole Cauliflower

Today is Thursday.

Things got a little experimental around here tonight. I wanted to make seafood but haven't been to my local fishmonger (Costco) in a bit so I only had canned tuna to play with. "Hmm I can come up with something a little better than tuna melts," I thought to myself. I made an Italian tuna salad with cannellini beans and whole roasted cauliflowers. I never thought tuna AND beans AND green things (parsley) would go over with the kids so I let us have it on some lovely sourdough bread I baked today. Yes, yes, carbs on a Thursday. It happens. Picture me doing all this while four little girls giggled and shrieked from upstairs and occasionally filtered downstairs- sometimes wet, sometimes with blue hands, always looking guilty- as I happily sang and played chef in the kitchen... joke was on me!

Liz's Italian Tuna Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained

2 T. olive oil

2 T. mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper (20 turns)

Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 T.)

2 cans tuna, wild caught, and oil-packed preferred

¼ cup diced onion

1 stalk celery, diced small

2 T. fresh parsley

2 T. capers

¼ - ½ tsp. Old Bay Seasoning, per your taste

Instructions 

1) Put the beans in a large bowl and smash them with a fork a bit.

2) Add the next 7 ingredients and stir.

3) Fold in the next 4 ingredients and top with Old Bay Seasoning.

Serve with bread or on crackers. 

Allegra asked if she could bring the tuna to school for lunch tomorrow ha ha. 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz's Whole Roasted Cauliflower Heads 

Ingredients 

Cauliflower head(s)- 1 large or 2 small, trimmed of leaves and rinsed

¼ cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

¼ tsp. Oregano, more or less

Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1) Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2) Put the whole head(s) of cauliflower on a cookie sheet. Drizzle ½ T olive oil on each or 1 T on a large one. Sprinkle a pinch each of salt, pepper (2 turns of the grinder) and oregano on each.

3) Top each head with a few pinches of grated cheese and pop them in the oven for 40 minutes. Check and turn them after 10, 20, and 30 minutes, drizzling another ½ - 1 T. more of olive oil each time. Remove when fork tender, after 40 minutes.

4) Cut into wedges and serve with more cheese. Devour, as we did.

Here was my sourdough, fresh out of the oven. The whole meal was a bit beige, but tasty.