Tuna and White Bean Salad

To placate my masses I must re-emerge with a wonderful recipe, one so great that once you make it yourself you will moan with delight and forget all about my absence here from the blog. This, my friends, is just such a recipe.

I came across this recipe when some coworkers and I took an Italian cooking class. Really, it was more of a cooking demonstration and tasting since there were no hands-on opportunities. Regardless, I came away with one of the best recipes I've ever tried in my life. No, I am not exaggerating!

Tuna and White Bean Salad
2 cans Italian tuna, in olive oil
2 cans cannellini beans
1/2 red onion, sliced very thinly
Leaves from celery (the light green parts inside)
Juice of one lemon
6 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of sugar

Ingredients photo:



(2 lemons pictured because I wasn't sure how much juice I'd get from one. Only use one, which should give you about 4-5 Tbsp. of juice.)




Close-up shot of the tuna. Find this tuna! Specialty markets may have it. I found mine at an import food shop here in Seattle. It's worth it...trust me on this. If you like, you can use regular tuna canned in oil or water but the flavor will be different and not as rich.



Take off all the stalks from the celery. You're after all of the light green leaves. You can use some of the darker green leaves but not too many! The green leaves have a wonderfully delicate flavor that adds so much to this salad.



Special Italian beans...yum! These tasted amazing. I got them from the import shop as well.



Slice the red onion verrrrrrrrry thinly. You can use a mandoline if you like but I just used a knife.



Mmmmm...tuna.



Mmmmm...tuna. ^_^



Put the lemon juice in a separate bowl.



Add the olive oil.



Now add the salt, pepper, and pinch of sugar.



Incorporate the dressing carefully. You don't want to break up the tuna too much.



Enjoy! Yes, I did eat this whole bowl. No, I don't feel guilty. It was amazing!



Obligatory cocktail shot: this time a dirty martini for Mr. Mary Cooks!

Taquito Casserole

My dad got this recipe from somewhere...perhaps the back of a box of taquitos. Anyway, it's a great recipe and lately I've made it a few times.



Ingredients:
1 box of unthawed taquitos (you need about 30)
28 oz can refried beans
20 oz can enchilada sauce
4 oz can chopped olives
4 oz can chopped green chiles
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cups of shredded cheese


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.




First, chop the green onions. Use the white and green parts. I love this photo. I love green onions! Hey, win-win!




Put the refried beans, green onions, olives, and green chiles into a microwave-safe bowl. Stir everything up so it's all happy together. Microwave for about 3-4 minutes, stirring halfway through.




Meanwhile, spray a 9x13 casserole pan with nonstick cooking spray. Lay down some taquitos.




Drizzle about half of the enchilada sauce over the taquitos.




Put half of the refried bean mixture over the taquitos.




Spread half of the cheese over the refried beans.




Repeat layers! Cover with foil and cook for about 50-60 minutes, or until hot. Cover with remaining cheese and put back into the oven until the cheese is melted.




This is pure comfort food. It's like enchiladas without all that pesky rolling! Add salsa, sour cream, and guacamole for a religious experience.

Taquito casserole is so great. Aside from the cooking, it really doesn't take much active time at all. You can use the taquitos that are corn or flour tortillas. I like both.

And now my stomach is grumbling. Maybe there are some leftovers still left in the refrigerator...

Indian Food Night

Last night we had a great dinner with friends. A lot of this food I picked up from the market but I made some toor daal from a recipe I got from a friend. But first...the market food!



Samosas from the salad bar area of Central Market. These were delicious!



Naan from Trader Joe's.



Daal palak, also from Central Market. It was so good and a bit spicy.



And here's the daal I made! It was a hit! It was also health, as the only oil I used was less than a tablespoon. Here is the recipe, as written by my friend Payal:

Need:
Toor Dal (found at Indian grocery stores)
2 1/2 tsp Paprika
3 tsp Cumin-coriander powder
3/4 tsp turmeric
Juice of one lemon (can substitute with lemon juice from store)
7 tsp sugar
green chilli (optional)
a small piece ginger (optional)
salt (according to taste)

Also need separately:
3 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds

Soak the lentils (toor dal) over night if possible or at least 4 hours. Then boil it until its completely soft or put it into a pressure cooker for 3 whistles. Then add some water and whip it until its blended. Now put the pan on a stove and put the whipped dal in there. Add all the spices up to salt. Once the dal is boiling, in a second small pan, heat up oil. Add black mustard seeds and heat until they sizzle. Add fenugreek seeds and heat some more. Add the mixture to the dal. Stir it up and add more water if needed. Let it boil for 30 minutes or until it reaches a desired consistency. Eat with rice.



I used equal amounts of coriander and cumin. I also could not find black mustard seeds so I used brown. Speaking of spices, a good tip is that if you happen to have a store near you that sells them in bulk it's much cheaper to get them from that section. This is especially true if it's a spice for a recipe that you do not use very often.

Oh, a couple of other amendments I made: I did not use the chili and for the garlic, I had some from a jar (oh, the humanity!) and I put in about a teaspoon. I'm not sure if the consistency I made was correct but it was so delicious. The consistency was a bit like mashed potatoes but it went very well with the rice (brown basmati) and the naan.

I loved making food with friends! It was fantastic.

Wine Weekend with the Girls

Last weekend a few friends and I traveled to the Yakima Valley in Washington state for the Spring Barrel Opening event. It was loads of fun. I came home with 9 bottles of white wine and 9 bottles of red wine for me (totally unintentional to have it so even) and 3 bottles of dessert wines for my parents. This has left me with the pleasant situation of having entirely too much wine in my house! I think I need to start drinking it and stop hoarding it. Perhaps I can open one bottle per Saturday and review it here on the blog. That's a great idea!

This is at Kiona, our first stop on Saturday morning.





This is at Hightower. They used to have a lovely Golden Retriever named Murray but he died over a year ago. Now they have another Golden named Riley.





Now, Terra Blanca, which is usually my favorite. This year, however, I was not quite as impressed with their wines. Still, it's beautiful. This is also where we ate lunch (we made all the food ourselves - well, not me but my friends did). One of my friends made a lovely white bean and tuna salad. Another friend made roasted asparagus that we had with canteloupe, bocconcini, and prosciutto. It was all delicious!







Our awesome food!



This is the barn outside our hotel.



The sunset Saturday night:



This is one of the wineries we visited on Sunday. It's called Bonair and is beautiful!



Finally, this is at a winery called Silver Lake. We went here Sunday as well. It was delicious!





Here are the wines I bought:













Stay tuned for weekly wine reviews!

Also, I want to make the white bean salad sometime very soon and I'll post the recipe when I do.

Spicy Beans with Turkey Sausage

Spicy Beans with Turkey Sausage

Ingredients

1 lb. smoked turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 can (16 oz.) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15.5 oz.) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups salsa
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth (enough to fill pot at least halfway)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin


You can also make this on the stove top. Sauté the onions and green peppers in a stock pot that has been sprayed with cooking spray until soft prior to adding the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Number of Servings: 6

Nutritional Info
Calories:376.4
Fat: 7.4g
Carbohydrates: 52.9g
Protein: 24.4g


You can also put all of the ingredients in a slow cooker, turn on to low, and cook for 5-6 hours.

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This was delicious and filling! I loved that it was full of fiber and protein. I used a salsa that was a little too hot for the kids; next time I will be sure to use a milder salsa so that the preschooler will eat it.