Tuna and cannellini bean salad

Written by Catherine Saxelby on Monday, 19 October 2009.
Tagged: dinner, easy, health, healthy cooking, healthy eating, high fibre, low GI, lunch, Mediterranean, nutrition, omega-3, salad

Ready In: 10 minutes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: Nil
Serves: 4

Here's one of my favourite salads made using two cans plus a helping of grains. Easy yet full in flavour, this salad gets better the day after as the flavours develop. The beans makes it low GI and high in fibre, while the tuna adds protein and those all-important minerals iodine and potassium.

Ingredients

400 g/13 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
400 g/13 oz can tuna, drained and flaked
1/2 cup (30 g) cooked quinoa
1/2 small purple onion, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice or white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
8 small or 4 large black Kalamata olives, cut into slivers
2 handfuls (100 g) baby rocket (arugula) or mixed salad leaves

Directions

Combine drained beans, tuna, quinoa, onion, oil, lemon juice or vinegar, parsley and olives in a large bowl. Toss to mix well.
Pack tuna salad and rocket into separate airtight containers and chill until ready to serve. The tuna salad can be left covered in the refrigerated overnight until ready to serve - in fact the flavours mix together nicely and improve over time.
To serve, place one quarter of the rocket onto a serving plate and place the tuna-cannellini mix on it. Serve with crusty sourdough bread.

Variations

Serve with cubes of avocado on top. Use 1 small or 1/2 medium avocado. Add just before serving with the rocket.
Serve with bocconcini (balls of baby mozzarella), cut into halves, stirred through just before serving.
No quinoa? Use 1/2 cup cooked brown rice or freekeh or farro wheat instead.