I could have sworn I wrote this entry already

It's odd. I could swear I've written entries about tuna and white bean salad before. I've tried at least three different recipes for it. I can't think of a summer where we didn't have it at least twice. It's light enough for a sunny day, filling enough to be a satisfying meal, and the acid from the dressing is delightfully refreshing.

I've tried a few recipes. Several use lemon juice as the dressing, but this one from Giada Di Laurentis is the one I keep going back to, and there's only one thing I change, which you'll read below. 

• 2 (6-ounce) cans dark meat tuna, packed in olive oil
• 2 (15-ounce) cans cannelini white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/3 cup small capers, nonpareil in brine, drained and rinsed
• 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 2 cups fresh arugula
• 6 fresh basil leaves

In a large bowl, add the tuna, reserving the olive oil in a separate small bowl. Break tuna into bite-size pieces with a large fork. Add the beans and capers. Into the bowl of olive oil, add the red wine vinegar. You should have 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil - add more extra-virgin olive oil if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Pour dressing on the tuna, bean and caper mixture and allow the flavors to infuse while slicing the vegetables. Add the onion and tomatoes to tuna mixture and toss gently.Place the arugula on large decorative platter and top with tuna mixture. Tear fresh basil leaves over the top and serve immediately.

-----------------------

Honestly, you can use any kind of tuna, even tuna packed in water. You'll need 2/3 Cup of olive oil total, whether you get it from the tuna can or from a bottle.

Funny story: In the snobbier grocery store in Stamford, there is a rack of imported canned and jarred fish labeled: "Serious Tuna." It took about five years for someone who worked there to laugh when Nexx and I asked where the silly tuna was.

It's bean dip, not hummus

I love white beans, though usually I have them in an Italian dish, like one of the many tuna & white bean salads I make in the summer (that's one of Nexx's favorite dishes).

I totally stole this idea from my favorite neighborhood bar, when I saw it on their menu. I've had hummus, of course, I've even made some, and I've had both fava beans and black beans as dips and enjoyed them, so why not cannellini?

Note I do not refer to items that aren't made from chick peas and tahini as hummus. It drives me batshit when people do. It's like calling a round piece of bread with a hole in it a bagel when it wasn't boiled before baking. End rant. 

It was easy to find the recipe that I'm blogging about this week. Giada di Laurentis has some great recipes, and the ingredient list is simple:

• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons (for those four tablespoons I added truffle oil, though I think I should have used more)
• 1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 6 pitas
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

I used a bit more garlic than called for (raise your hand if you're surprised). 

Our instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the beans, garlic, lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, and parsley in the work bowl of a food processor. (I'm lucky enough to have a stick blender and it worked just fine). 

Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the bean puree to a small bowl.

Cut each pita in half and then into 8 wedges. Arrange the pita wedges on a large baking sheet. Pour the remaining oil over the pitas. Toss and spread out the wedges evenly. Sprinkle with the oregano, salt, and pepper. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until toasted and golden in color.

Serve the pita toasts warm or at room temperature alongside the bean puree.

When I had blended everything, it had tasted kind of bland to me. Totally my bad for not trusting the recipe and giving the flavors time to blend. I added a bit more lemon, and well, I kind of overdid it. I served it with red peppers as well as pita. The picture below is our gaming table set up for company.

My company agreed that it was a bit heavy on the lemon. I think I'm going to need to play with this a little bit before I find it perfect. I really liked the lemon with the red peppers, though.

About truffle oil--it's an indulgence and I don't use it very often, even though it is pretty versatile. Salads, pasta, sandwiches, and you only need a little bit. My current bottle came as a gift for my 50th (how the hell did that happen?) birthday. I poked around Amazon, and this is one of the of the highest rated for under $20. 

Questions, comments? Let's hear them!

You really don't need the special equipment

The long commute to and from my job does not leave me a lot of time to cook. My weekends are often spent socializing, and in June I was diagnosed with cancer.

As cancer patients go, I am so far one of the luckiest women on the planet. The cancer was not invasive, the surgery had no complications, I do not need chemotherapy. I am getting radiation therapy, but after week 3, the side effects aren't debilitating. We'll see how things are next week.

Between the diagnosis and recovering from the surgery, my creative juices went on holiday. Somewhere in that time, the people at Epicurious started sending out a newsletter and a few weeks ago this recipe caught my eye.

My darling Nexx loves skirt steak, and I thought the combination of white beans and broccolini would be tasty. When I read the recipe, I thought two things. 1) I don't have a wire basket 2) This needs red pepper.

I didn't change anything from the base recipe:

• 4 garlic cloves, divided (I probably used a bit more)
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1 (1 1/2-pound) skirt steak, cut crosswise into 2 equal pieces
• 1 bunch broccolini (about 10 ounces), trimmed, halved lengthwise (quartered lengthwise if large) (and I'm sure broccoli would be fine if you sliced it thinly enough)
• 1 (15-ounce) can white beans, rinsed, drained

It smelled delcious coming together, though in retrospect a bit more oregano would have been good, and a touch less mustard.

Finely chop 2 garlic cloves. Place in a large bowl or shallow baking dish, then whisk in vinegar, Dijon, 1/2 cup oil, 1 Tbsp. oregano, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. 

Reserve 1/4 cup vinaigrette for serving; add steak to remaining vinaigrette and turn to coat. Let marinate at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour. (I think I gave it two hours. A nap may have been involved)

Meanwhile, preheat broiler and thinly slice remaining 2 garlic cloves. Toss broccolini, remaining 2 Tbsp. oil, 1 Tbsp. oregano, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper on rimmed baking sheet. Broil 5 minutes, then remove from oven. Add beans and garlic and toss to combine. Set wire rack on top of broccolini mixture. Place steak on rack; discard vinaigrette.

I just put the steak on top of the beans and broccolini. Everything came out just fine.

Broil steak, turning halfway through, until cooked to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. (a little more than that actually. 3 minutes a side gave us quite rare)

Let steak rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, transfer broccolini mixture to a medium bowl and toss with 1 Tbsp. reserved vinaigrette, then divide among 4 plates. Thinly slice steak against the grain and serve with broccolini mixture and remaining vinaigrette alongside.

It did, in the end, need the red pepper, in our humble opinions. It just added a wonderful dash of brightness and a little heat that was so delicious it brought everything up a level. Overall, something I would make again with my addition.

Next time: a different take on linguine and clam sauce.