Hi guys! I'm Laura Vitale, and on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen I want to share with
you one of my favorite, favorite, favorite childhood dishes that we make here so much
during the hot months and it's my Tuna Pasta Salad. There is no mayo involved, it has got
a lot of flavor going on, and it's just really, really easy. I want to share it with you,
and I'm really excited. I'm going to take you over the ingredients so we can get started!
You will need some finely chopped red onion, I've got some grape tomatoes that I halved
and some that I've quartered. I've got some chopped, pitted Kalamata olives, fresh parsley,
some arugula. You'll need some short cut pasta of your choice, I'm using bow-tie because
that's what I like. Then I've got a tuna steak here that I'll talk about in a minute. I also
have some lemon here, some garlic, peppercorns, additional parsley. You'll need an additional
lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. That's it. Now,
truth be told, when I was growing up my mom, and even I very, very often make this dish
using really good quality Italian tuna that's canned in olive oil. That's the only tuna
I really use, but for special occasions, and when I can get my hands on a really nice tuna
steak, I like to get the tuna steak, poach it and then flake it in there. It just kind
of elevates the dish a little tiny bit, and it makes it a little touch, I guess, like
a touch more special, if you would. But, you can use absolutely canned tuna and it would
be fabulous, but I wanted to poach a tuna steak today just to show you how you can take
it and make it a tad more special, perfect for having, maybe, a lunch or something and
you're inviting people over, you want to make this but you want to make it seem a little
bit fancier, then you would use a tuna steak. Now, what I have here is some water coming
up to a simmer, and in that water I'm going to add my lemon. I'm just going to slightly
squeeze that. Then I'm going to add parsley, and this is the poaching liquid for the tuna,
peppercorns. We're going to need to add some salt, and then we're going to need to add
just a small, small drizzle of olive oil. I'm going to let that come to a simmer, it
will take just a few more minutes. In the meantime make sure that you get a big pot,
fill it with water, generous sprinkling of salt, and bring that to a boil. While that's
coming to a boil and this is coming to a simmer, we are just going to toss together our ingredients,
which I already have chopped just to make life a little bit easier, but I am going to
take my arugula and give this a fine chop as well so that it can run through the salad
a bit easier, almost like an herb, almost like a parsley, but just a bit more peppery
and it's got a bit more attitude, I guess you could say. I'm just going to add that
in there, and now we're going to dress it really simply with olive oil, salt and pepper.
These are the flavors I grew up eating, so by all means you can add any vegetables you
want in here, this is just what I'm adding because that's what I'm used to eating. So,
let's just season this a bit with some salt and pepper. Then we'll add in just a squeeze,
I'm actually going to use a whole lemon. Start with half, and go from there. If you like
things as lemony as I do, then add the whole thing. But, if you don't then just start with
half, taste it, and then go from there. I'm just going to give this a toss in one minute,
I'm going to set this aside. My poaching liquid is up to a good simmer, and I'm going to take
my tuna steak-which is so beautiful-I'm going to plop that in there, and I'm going to let
this poach for about ten minutes to fifteen minutes or until it flakes beautifully. In
about five minutes, so when this has a good ten minutes left - eight or nine minutes,
maybe - I'm going to add my pasta to the boiling water. I don't want to add it now because
then otherwise it'll be done, which doesn't really matter because we're going to rinse
it under cold water to stop it from cooking anyway, but just being a little bit pre cautious.
You know, I want things to get done at the same time. I'm just going to toss this together,
and I did decide to go for a rough chop on my arugula. I meant to say my parsley is a
bit more finely chopped, but I'm going to leave my arugula a bit more coarse. Okay,
that looks magnificent and smells even better. I'm going to keep my eye on this baby and
let that poach beautifully, add my pasta to the boiling water, and then I'm going to drain
it and then I'll meet you back here when this is done and the pasta is cooked! My pasta
cooked for about nine minutes, and then I drained it and rinsed it really well under
cold water to stop it from cooking further. I took my tuna steak out of the poaching liquid,
which had the lemon, peppercorns, and I did have some garlic in there as well. I'm not
so sure that I mentioned it. All I'm doing right now is just kind of flaking it apart
with my forks, which it's just really easy to do. I like to leave some larger chunks
in there. I don't like to, kind of, mush it all up into a paste. I like to leave it pretty
nice and chunky. I tasted the tuna steak, it's beautifully seasoned. I tasted the pasta,
it's lovely and just perfectly salted. We have the dressing here that's salted, so we
are in business! You want to make sure every layer of your dish is individually seasoned
so that when you bring it all together and you're taking a bite, it's not like you have
the pasta that's really salted and everything else bland because you will tell a difference,
I can guarantee you that. All I'm doing now, is just carefully, mixing this all up and
giving it a stir. You can see the tuna is really lovely and it's in large chunks, some
are smaller, some are bigger but you'll be able to see the tuna. By all means, guess
what, if you don't want to use tuna at all, great veggie pasta salad as-is. You don't
have to add the tuna, add extra veggies. This is very, very standard for me, something I
grew up eating, so this is how I kind of always make it. Sometimes, sometimes, I'll use green
onions instead of red onions, but I prefer the red onions. I'm just going to give this
a taste, because my mouth is salivating now. Let me get the tuna, the pasta, tomato. That
is perfect. Absolutely perfect. You could serve it as-is right now and it would be delicious,
but do what I'm going to do. I'm just going to cover this and pop it into the fridge for
twenty minutes and it will be perfect. But you could absolutely eat it now, but I think
that once it's in the fridge and everything cools down together, all the flavors blend.
That is about it! I hope you have enjoyed spending time with me recreating this old
childhood classic. Let me know some of your childhood classics that you would like to
see me recreate. As always, this recipe will be on laurainthekitchen.com and I will see
you next time. Bye, bye!