Whole Tuna Salad

No can openers were used in the making of this post.

I recall one particularly horrifying episode of Molto Mario on the Food Network where Chef Batali took a cinder-block sized brick of sushi-grade ahi tuna, boiled the crap out of it, and put it in a jar filled with olive oil. I sat, distraught and disgusted, at the terrible waste of such a huge, expensive, gorgeous chunk of meat. He said he was creating authentic canned tuna. I think he was committing an atrocity.

I'm always amazed at the high-end stuff available at Costco. My newest find was a bag of vacuum-packed ahi tuna fillets. They're relatively inexpensive, and have a shelf life of almost a year, which is perfect because I'm the only tuna eater in the house. We don't exactly plow through whole tuna steaks round here.

I ransacked my brain for uses for my newfound bounty, and I came up rather dry. It seems like every time I get tuna it's in the guise of some kind of seared steak. Don't get me wrong, I love a good tuna steak as much as the next guy, but frankly it makes for boring blog posts. So I boiled the crap out of it.

Tuna salad was my goal. No, not the kind you get from bad cafeterias or out of a vending machine. I wanted the real stuff, with big tuna chunks and real veggies and bacon. And I wanted it light.

I set to work prepping the dressing. I found a tip on the internet to substitute yogurt for most of the mayo. From what I found, a 2:1 ratio of yogurt to mayo wouldn't taste too funky. I also added seasonings (brown mustard, basil and cayenne pepper) to taste.

Next came tuna prep. I was scared that boiling would tear the delicate meat apart, and I wanted whole chunks in my salad. Poaching is like playing chicken with a boil, especially without the safety net of a thermometer. Fortunately for us, tuna cooks incredibly fast so it doesn't require much babysitting. I just sliced the steaks into 1/2" slices, plopped them in a pot with enough water to cover, and heated the pot until the water had just barely started to boil. By that time, the steaks were done. If you cut yours in half and they aren't, just return them to the pot and wait a bit.

Finally I mixed everything together, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste, and refrigerated the salad for a couple of hours until everything was chilled and the flavors mixed.

My wife though the mixture was a little dry, but I personally prefer "mayo salads" to be lighter on the mayo and heavier on the meats and veggies. Sure, my salad crumbles when stacked, but you can definitely taste the $6 in tuna you dumped in it.

One final note - I know many don't want to make this recipe using whole tuna. In that case, you can substitute 4-5 cans of chunk light tuna (packed in water, drained) for the tuna steaks. As with all meat salads, I'd add 3-4 cans, taste it, and add more if necessary.

Whole Tuna Salad

5 tbsp. Fat Free Plain Yogurt
2.5 tbsp. Low Fat Mayo
1/2 tbsp. Spicy Mustard
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. Dried Basil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

1 lb. Ahi Tuna, sliced into 1/2" fillets
1 med Onion, diced finely
1 cup Celery, diced finely
4 strips Turkey Bacon, cooked and chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix first 5 ingredients to make dressing, and let sit in fridge to chill while preparing the main ingredients.

Poach the tuna in heavily salted water for 6-10 minutes, or until cooked through. Do not overcook. Drain and gently cool with cold water. Chop tuna into 1/2" chunks and toss with remaining ingredients.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in dressing (you don't want to destroy those huge chunks). Let sit in the refrigerator until cold and until flavors have blended.

The whole batch is 20 pts. and makes approximately 5 cups.