‌I love this tuna pasta salad, its like falling backwards and knowing you will always be caught.  It is one of those main-dish salad recipes that never fails. Tuna salad cooks in no time and feeds a lot of people. It is also made with ingredients that  you would usually have in your pantry, it can be light and healthy and guaranteed to be delicious for all.

One day I had friends over my house and all I had in the house were a couple of tuna cans, roasted red peppers, basil, lemons and mayo. It was lunch time so I decided to mix them all together with some pasta and voila, at the time it was just perfect!

Then I saw Ina Garten making a similar dish but with lemon vinaigrette and capers and instead of pasta she was making couscous and then  I thought that’s what I will make with my tuna pasta! I added the capers, the lemon zest and the olive oil/lemon vinaigrette and it is honestly delicious! Either with pasta or couscous it is out of this world!

Tuna Pasta Salad is definitely a crowd pleaser. There is not a time that I ask, “who wants tuna pasta?” that I won’t get a rousing yes from everyone, and without hesitation.

Roasted red peppers, capers, fresh basil, lots of lemon zest and an olive oil-lemon dressing makes this dish the perfect go-to recipe, especially those weeknights when you don’t know what to cook.

I usually use tuna in water for my other salads but for this one, tuna in olive oil is key. I drain the olive oil from the can but the tuna is moist and rich in flavor and since you are only using olive oil and lemon in your vinaigrette, the combination is just amazing. In my opinion, if you used tuna in water for this recipe you would need some mayo, otherwise, the salad would be too dry and a little bland.

In other food unrelated news, I finished the office…I built it all by myself – with a little help from my husband but I am so proud I did it all alone. I designed it in a piece of paper and then we found the most of the perfect furniture in Ikea.

Now it is so much better! To start working again, sitting on a desk. Let me just tell you that when I was working on my last two posts I was typing on the floor!

I wanted to post some pictures but I am waiting for the chairs to arrive – they said it will take about 4 weeks, can’t wait.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

1//2 lb of Farfalle or short pasta

1 small garlic clove, minced

1  – 7 oz can of tuna in extra virgin olive oil or 2 – 4 oz cans of albacore tuna in olive oil, drained (I used this one)

1/3 cup if hatred roasted red peppers, diced (I used 1/2 because I love them!)

2 tsp of lemon zest, freshly grated

1/4 cup of lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

3 tbs of fresh basil, sliced

1 tbs of pesto (optional)

3 tbs of capers, rinsed and drained

Salt and pepper to taste – I used 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper

 

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

In the meantime, drain the tuna and mix it with the lemon zest, roasted red peppers, capers.

Whisk the olive oil and the lemon in a small jar or mason jar, add 1/4 of tsp of salt and some black pepper.

Once the pasta is ready add the tuna mix and the olive oil/lemon dressing and the pesto over the warm pasta and stir until all ingredients are mixed in.

Sprinkle the fresh basil and 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper,  mix well.

 

Notes

Serve warm or at room temperature.