I have loved tuna salad of all shapes and sizes since forever, but in the summer this is my all-time fave. Tuna tossed with fresh local tomatoes, fresh herbs, a handful of capers and the olive oil from the tuna jar – that’s all you need to make a tuna salad that is summertime delicious. Ready for some easy, perfect tuna salad, hold the mayo? Let’s make it!
Cauliflower Tuna Salad
I am literally obsessed with this recipe for cauliflower tuna salad. OBSESSED. Because not only is it scrumptiously delicious, and not only is it a complete and total shake-up of regular old tuna salad, it is also pretty dang healthy. Especially if you don’t load it up with bacon to the extent that I did when I took this picture, because while Everything Is Better With Bacon, this recipe is also fabulous without it (and more on that later).
So here’s one of the reasons for my obsession…let’s make it!
Seared Steak Tartare
Let me start by saying that yes, I realize that this recipe for seared steak tartare is breaking all kinds of steak tartare rules. The main one being that steak tartare is supposed to be, well, raw. And I am definitely one of those people who loves a good traditional steak tartare in all of its uncooked glory. So let me go on record as saying that.
However, there are also folks out there who aren’t quite into the whole totally raw meat thing…and I understand that, but I also can’t bear for you to live without the glory that is steak tartare. So for you I present a seared steak tartare…still super rare on the inside, but with a quick char on the outside, and cooked with garlic and rosemary and drizzled with olive oil and capers and oh my my. Let’s make it!
Tomato Caper Chicken
There’s something about tomatoes and capers in any conglomeration that brightens up anything they meet, and this easy peasy tomato caper chicken is no exception. It takes plain old ordinary sautéed chicken and gives it a sassy, tangy personality that is guaranteed to make you believe in the old “winner, winner, chicken dinner” all over again…and it’s ready in less than a half hour, which is yet another reason that it is my current chicken crush. The Southern husband is helpless in the face of anything that involves capers (yep, capers…he’s a mystery) so when this is on the menu at our house, the only one who isn’t in a good mood about dinner is the dog. And actually, I take that back – the dog is ALWAYS in a good mood about dinner. So grab some chicken out of the fridge and let’s make it!
Salmon with Brown Butter Sauce
A few days ago I wrote about my love affair with shrimp and grits, which is one of my favorite decadent comfort foods. But sometimes you want comfort food that is not only good for the soul but also good for the waistline, and that is where this recipe for salmon with brown butter sauce comes in. Yes, there is butter, but a reasonable amount, and it is combined with tangy salty capers and best of all, cooked slowly until it is brown butter. If you haven’t ever had the deliciousness that is brown butter (and more on that later), this is a great way to start, because we are going to drizzle it over a lovely, tender pile of flaked salmon, and whatever is getting you down is going to feel a little bit better.
Tuna Nicoise Salad
My love for this tuna nicoise salad knows no bounds, because it lets me take a humble jar (yes, jar, and more on that later) of tuna and turn it into a veritable plate of elegance in as much time as it takes to boil up a few potatoes, eggs and green beans. Honestly, the vast majority of time it takes me to make this dish is spent on arranging the beans and egg wedges and potatoes as if they were about to get their picture taken for the cover of Vogue. If that wasn’t a factor (and I do this even when I’m not taking any pictures because I am an obsessive food stylist), this would be going from walk-in-the-door to supper plate in about 20 minutes. And more like 5 if I have been super organized and cooked the veggies and eggs in advance which you can absolutely do with this dish. Lightening-fast elegance for supper, that’s my motto!