Fresh, soft and tasty: tuna in oil is a perfect ingredient to create fanciful dishes with vegetables or little-used cereals such as the Sardinian fregola.
Tuna in oil it is one of the most used ingredients in spring and summer preparations. Rich in proteins, low in fat and balanced in calories, canned tuna has an excellent quality / price ratio that makes it one of the most convenient proteins of animal origin. It is an excellent product also from the nutritional point of view, because both in oil and in natural, it keeps intact the nutritional and taste qualities of the fresh one.
And then it is easy to combine to prepare mouth-watering and appetizing dishes, ideal for an informal dinner with friends or for an outdoor buffet. Here are some suggestions to prepare quick and easy appetizers.
Appetizer with vegetables
For this delicious appetizer you will need a red pepper, a yellow pepper, frozen peas, oil, 3 hard-boiled eggs and some tops of boiled cauliflower. First clean and remove the peppers seeds, pass them for a few minutes in boiling salted water, drain them, let them cool and cut them into pieces. Also boil the frozen peas: you will need 15 minutes for them to be cooked, drain them and place them in a large bowl with the chopped peppers, cauliflower florets, boiled eggs cut lengthwise and drained oil tuna. Mix well, add oil and a pinch of salt and serve on toasted durum wheat bread.
Stuffed eggs
This is also an appetizer that everyone always likes and that is prepared in no time. Boil six eggs, when they are cooked, peel them and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the yolk, being careful not to break the hard albumen, place it in a bowl and crumble it with a fork. Add the tuna in oil drained, add a few tablespoons of mayonnaise and mix everything together. With this cream stuff the egg white and garnish each egg with pickled capers, or slices of cucumber or anchovies in oil.
Zucchini with tuna
Choose zucchini long enough for this recipe. Clean and cut them in half lengthwise. Blanch them for a few minutes in salted water, remove them, dig them with a teaspoon and set aside the pulp of each courgette. In a bowl put the drained tuna, the pulp of the courgettes, some grated bread, a pinch of salt and some thyme leaves. Mix all the ingredients and fill the courgettes with this mixture, using a spoon. When all the courgettes are stuffed, place them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, bake at 180 ° for twenty minutes. When the filling is golden, remove the zucchini from the oven, let them cool and serve warm.
Baskets with tuna mousse
Really tasty appetizer, which can be prepared with both puff pastry and filo pastry, as you prefer. Take a roll of puff pastry, cut it into discs as large as the muffin containers, grease the containers with a knob of butter, line them with the puff pastry and place the dried beans on the bottom. Bake the molds at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, until they are golden brown. When they are ready, remove them from the oven, remove the beans and let them cool. Separately, place 200 g of well-drained tuna in a blender, the same amount of ricotta, an egg yolk, salt, pepper, and whisk well. Whip 200 g of fresh cream and then add it to the tuna, making sure that it is not disassembled. Put the mousse in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and then with the help of a pastry bag fill the baskets of puff pastry with the tuna mousse. Garnish with a pickled gherkin cut in half and serve.
Rice and tuna croquettes
This dish can be an appetizer but also an irresistible first course. First prepare a risotto, toasting the rice in a sautéed shallot and then making it cook by wetting it from time to time with a vegetable stock flavored with the juice of a lemon. When the rice is ready, roll it out on a baking dish to let it cool. Once cold, take a small portion, the size of a fist, place it on your hand and place a spoonful of well-drained tuna in the center. Close the rice in your hand, until it forms a croquette, which you will first pass in a beaten egg and then in the breadcrumbs. At this point, fry your croquettes in hot peanut oil until they have turned a golden color. Roll them out on a plate with absorbent paper, because they lose the excess oil and serve warm.
Eggplant rolls with tuna
This dish can also be prepared with courgettes if you prefer. Get yourself a firm eggplant, cut it into slices along the length and grill each slice on a grill without adding seasonings. When all the slices are ready, set them aside. Meanwhile in a bowl mix the ricotta cheese, the well-drained tuna, a teaspoon of desalted capers and a few leaves of chopped basil. Mix all the ingredients until a homogeneous cream has formed, add salt, then roll it out with the help of a spoon on each slice of aubergine. Roll up the aubergines forming some rolls that you will put in the fridge to rest. Serve after an hour on a bed of salad.
Cannellini beans, onions and tuna
A summer classic, this salad is perfect for a light and low-calorie lunch. In a bowl, thinly slice the Tropea onion, add cannellini beans boiled in abundant salted water (you can also use canned beans, quicker to prepare) and well-drained tuna in oil. Stir and serve immediately.
Fregola, zucchini and tuna
Fregola is a hard wheat pasta typical of Sardinia. To prepare this dish, sauté the sliced Tropea onion in a little oil, add the courgette cut into strips and cook. When the courgettes have become soft, add well-drained tuna in oil, stir and remove from heat. Apart from boiling the water, boil the fregola and when it is al dente drain it and add it to the tuna and zucchini sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper and serve.
Spelled salad, dried tomatoes and tuna
This dish is also perfect to take to the office for lunch. First of all boil spelled in plenty of salted water. When it is cooked, drain it and place it in a large bowl. Separately, mix the tuna with the pitted olives, the chopped celery, some flakes of sliced dried tomatoes and drained corn. Add a few leaves of basil, tuna roe and season the spelled with this sauce. Everyone will like it.
Pasta with tuna and citrus pesto
For those who miss Sicily: in a bowl peel the slices of an orange, add the juice of a lemon, peeled almonds, pine nuts, mint leaves, some desalted capers and drained tuna. Blend it all with an immersion blender, until a soft and homogeneous cream is obtained. Separately, cook the spaghetti, drain and season with the citrus cream and tuna. Serve with flaked almonds and mint leaves.
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