Newsletter Home | Market Report | Recipes | Contact Us | Subscribe to Newsletter

Recipes Home | Refer this page to a friend

Pasta Salad Niçoise with Broiled Tuna

Seafood Suggestion: Simply Seafood® salmon, scallops
Seafood Alternatives: Nelson Crab® cooked shrimp, smoked trout

Seafood in this salad can be either hot or chilled, so it's a great way to use leftover seafood. Why not plan to cook extra seafood one night, so that you can make this easy recipe the next?

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces fresh green beans, trimmed
• 12 ounces tri-shaped pasta (mixture of penne, rotini and shells) or any 1 shape
• 10 1/2 ounces tuna steak (3/4 inch thick)
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese or grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup slivered fresh basil leaves
• 2/3 cup green onions, thinly sliced
• 12 pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved

Mustard Vinaigrette:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. Dijon-style mustard
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. Honey
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Cooking Instructions:

Combine all the vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well; pour all but 2 tablespoons into a large serving bowl and set aside.

Preheat the broiler or grill. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pan. Add the beans and boil 4 minutes. Remove the beans with a slotted spoon and run under cold water to chill. Cut the beans into 1-inch pieces and set aside. Bring the tuna with 1 tablespoon of the remaining vinaigrette. Broil 1 to 2 inches from the heat for 3 minutes. Turn and broil until the tuna is light pink in the center, 2 to 3 minutes longer. (Alternatively, grill 6 to 8 inches above hot coals, turning once, 2 to 3 minutes per side.) Set aside to cool.

Add the pasta to the bowl with the vinaigrette. Stir in the beans, cheese, basil, green onions and olives. Slice the tuna into very thin strips and toss with the remaining tablespoon of vinaigrette. Very gently stir the tuna into the salad, then spoon the salad onto a serving platter or individual plates. Garnish with the cherry tomatoes.

Note:

Here's a trick for pitting olives: Set the olive on the work surface and lay the blade of a large chef's knife on top. With the palm of your hand on top of the blade, press gently on the olive, down and away from you. The olive flesh will split and pull away from the pit, making it easy to remove.

Servings per recipe: 6

Nutrition Facts:

Cal. 430 / Total fat 16g / Sat. 5g / Chol. 38mg / Sdm. 380mg / Carbo. 50g / Prot. 22g / Om-3 .2g