Tuna salad sensation: A simple three-ingredient recipe to try

Tuna regularly appears on our tables. In shops, we can buy both raw tuna (great for making sushi, tartare, or steak) and canned tuna in its own sauce or oil, which is excellent for sandwiches or salads.

What should you pay attention to when buying canned tuna? First of all, the ingredients list. It should be as short as possible, limited to fish, water or vegetable oil, and salt. Avoid cans that contain artificial additives, like flavourings.

As we mentioned earlier, canned tuna is a tasty and valuable salad ingredient. For example, the famous French classic, the Niçoise salad, is made from Romaine lettuce, bell peppers, anchovy fillets, capers, hard-boiled eggs, and black olives.

You can also prepare a simpler, but equally delicious snack from tuna, for which you will only need two other ingredients.

Canned tuna does not lose its nutritional value. It remains a rich source of complete and easily digestible protein, which contains all essential amino acids in a ratio that most closely matches human needs.

Like all sea fish, tuna provides many unsaturated fatty acids, which, among other things, lower triglycerides and "bad" LDL cholesterol levels (thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases), strengthen the immune system, ensure the proper functioning of the nervous system, and also greatly impact well-being.

The fish is a treasure trove of vitamins, including D (involved in most life processes), B1 (supports brain and muscle function), B3 (a component of many enzymes involved in carbohydrate and fat metabolism), and B6 (supports the immune system). It contains a lot of selenium, which protects cells from harmful free radicals and stimulates the immune system, and phosphorus, which supports the nervous system, helps maintain acid-base balance, and is responsible for the excellent condition of bones, teeth, gums, and joints.

The problem, however, is that tuna meat accumulates a lot of heavy metals: cadmium, mercury, zinc, and lead. Therefore, pregnant women and children up to 7 years old limit or even exclude sea fish from their diet, particularly tuna and salmon. The heavy metals ingested by the mother through food can enter the foetus's body through the umbilical cord blood and, after birth, through the mother's milk, potentially causing severe developmental disorders.

What, besides tuna, will be in our salad? Well-paired capers, the unopened buds of the thorny caper bush, picked early in the morning and then marinated in vinegar, oil, brine, or salt.

This is one of the symbols of Mediterranean cuisine. Just like the third ingredient of the salad – a slightly spicy vinaigrette sauce. How to prepare it? Pour olive oil (around 240 ml) and red wine (around 80 ml) into a jar, add garlic (2 cloves previously pressed), lemon juice, Dijon mustard (one teaspoon), dried oregano (one teaspoon), dried basil (half a teaspoon), and salt (half a teaspoon). Close the jar and shake until all the sauce ingredients are combined.

Drain the tuna in its own juice (two cans) and transfer to a bowl, lightly flaking it with a fork. Add drained capers (2 tablespoons) and vinaigrette (3-4 tablespoons). Gently mix.

The salad tastes great on toast, baguette or roll. You can also serve it with a bagel or crackers.