This traditional Italian salad has become one of our favorite summer staples. It’s easy because most of the ingredients are already in the pantry, and if we lack one or two, substitutions are easy.
We always have several cans of high-quality cannellini beans in our cupboard. Next to them, of course, are equally good canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans). If we want to make this salad and we are out of white beans, we often substitute chickpeas. It’s a different flavor and a very different salad, but still excellent! Just make sure that your tinned beans contain nothing more than the beans themselves, salt, and water.
In the pantry basket beneath the beans, we have a variety of tins and jars of tuna packed in olive oil. The best of these are the ones from Italy. If we can’t use the ones from Italy, we do the best we can with what our stores carry, sometimes Spainish or Portuguese tuna. The important thing is that the tuna is packed in olive oil and that there are no preservatives other than salt. They are more expensive but worth it!
When I was young, my mother bought those tiny, skinny jars of capers. She might have used a teaspoon for one recipe, and then the jar just sat on the shelf for years, and years, and years. Conversely, we buy capers in quart jars and start to panic when it’s half empty. Even though we grow and brine our own capers, too, we also keep a large jar of store-bought capers in the fridge just in case. If we don’t have capers (just imagine the wailing and whining), we simply omit them from this recipe.
As for onions and lettuces? We may not always have a red onion, but we always have shallots, which are a wonderful substitute. For lettuce, we like this especially with tender baby arugula, but it is just as good served with mixed greens or romaine.
My final words on the subject? Make sure you use the best ingredients when making this salad; it relies on quality. And that includes the olive oil and vinegar you use. The olive oil should be full in flavor, and your vinegar of good acidity. If you don’t have red wine vinegar, you can use white wine vinegar.
~ David
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John / Kitchen Riffs
June 19, 2021 at 7:13 amSuch a nice, simple dish with such clear, direct flavors. We like to use beans in salads a lot, too. I used to resemble your mother in my caper usage, but for the last decade at least always have a decent size jar going in my refrigerator, too (not quart size, though; I don’t grow and brine my own, and I haven’t seen that size in any of my markets). Anyway, this is delightful — and exactly the sort of dish we’re eating a lot at this time of the year. I’ll be making this, exactly as you specify. Thanks.
Cocoa & Lavender
June 19, 2021 at 11:38 amJudging from any of the dishes I’ve seen on your blog, John, I think you and Mrs. KR will really like this.
Eha
June 19, 2021 at 4:47 pmA dish you and I both love and actually make in a very similar fashion ! In my case eat all year around ! Tho’ Australian tinned tuna can be of a perfectly acceptable quality I must admit to using European brands at times . . . but having quite a few friends living in Spain and Portugal actually splurge on those more often . . . the taste is deeper than local brands. *smile* Yes it does seem to be enviably hot out your way . . . but even without AC as I am I would rather be there than freezing in our current winter – you see hothouse flowers like yours truly shiver uncontrollably at today’s horrid, horrid 16 C top !!!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 20, 2021 at 12:43 pmI do think the quality of Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish tuna is generally the best, though must admit Australian tuna isn’t available here so I have no judgment there! 🙂 I was a bit surprised by the temperatures this past week but will still take them over cold, although you can hardly call 16°C cold! We moved here from a place where the high temperatures of the day were often -22°C! No, thanks!
gloria Roa Baker
June 19, 2021 at 7:39 pmDear David Looks so pretty and delicious ! take care!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 20, 2021 at 12:43 pmThanks, Gloria!
gloria Roa Baker
June 19, 2021 at 7:41 pmand yours pictures always are beautiful!!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 20, 2021 at 12:44 pmDouble thanks, Gloria — you are so sweet!
sherry
June 20, 2021 at 8:28 pmthis looks simple and wonderful david. oh yes i agree you need the best quality ingredients for a dish like this. well for every meal really 🙂 Tuna in EVOO is the best for this! How amazing to grow your own capers. that’s wonderful. it is sunny and blue and gorgeous here and about 19C but i am still cold!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 24, 2021 at 10:44 amI would LOVE 19°!!! I agree – every dish deserves the best ingredients, Sherry!
Carolyne
June 21, 2021 at 6:12 amThat salad screams summer is here! What a lovely recipe.
Thank you!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 24, 2021 at 10:45 amI think we may have this for lunch today, actually! Thanks, Carolyne!
2pots2cook
June 21, 2021 at 8:44 amPerfect, quick and easy week dinner or office lunch. Sometimes, I add pepitas oil instead of olive one and it’s great ! Thank you David !
Cocoa & Lavender
June 24, 2021 at 10:45 amI have never had pepitas oil, Davorka – now I need to find some! 🙂
Jeff the Chef
June 22, 2021 at 6:06 amI love this salad. I have had many variations on it and have loved them all. Tour tips are right on. But … you grow and brine your own capers? What? How cool!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 24, 2021 at 10:46 amWhen we rented a farmhouse in Italy, our landlady taught me how to do it, and Tucson has a decent climate for growing them. Thanks ,Jeff.
Jeff the Chef
June 29, 2021 at 7:32 amThat is so cool. So, is it like pickling, where once you’ve put them up, you can keep them around for a long time? Do you typically polish off last year’s crop before the next year’s is ready to be harvested? Do all your friends get capers for Christmas? 😉
Cocoa & Lavender
June 30, 2021 at 12:21 pmExactly, Jeff. It is a brine similar to many pickles. We use them sparingly year-round for dishes that in which they shine – and for dishes that don’t matter so much, we have the quart jar. We only have two caper bushes but it gives us a pretty good harvest each year – including some caper berries. Haha – no… no one has received capers for Christmas. Not yet, anyway…
Raymund
June 22, 2021 at 3:47 pmOhh I can make this salad easily and I have most of the ingredients on hand
Cocoa & Lavender
June 24, 2021 at 10:47 amThat is the best part of salads like this, Raymund – easy to make in a few minutes with things we have on hand!
Valentina
June 23, 2021 at 2:21 pmDavid, this is my favorite type of summer (or year round!) meal. Love a salad that can be an entrée and the ingredients in this one are some of my favorites. Delish! 🙂 ~Valentina
Cocoa & Lavender
June 24, 2021 at 10:47 amThanks, Valentina! We need to have more entrée salads in our lives!
sippitysup
June 24, 2021 at 10:27 amLooks a lot like the lunch I have planned for today! Summer is here and so are her salads. GREG
Cocoa & Lavender
June 24, 2021 at 10:48 amMore summer salads on the way, Greg! Now that you mention it, we might have this today, too.
Aarthi
June 24, 2021 at 3:53 pmI can eat salads any day, and this bean and tuna looks simple to make and perfect for me to try! Best part is the beans, love them in the salad!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 29, 2021 at 6:53 amI have really come to love beans in my salads, too… the white beans and chickpeas are my two favorites, Aarthi.
Frank Fariello
June 25, 2021 at 4:19 amLove this salad! Like you guys, it’s a staple on our table during the summer months. And it could even be dinner on those days I’m just too tired to cook. So easy to throw together!
Cocoa & Lavender
June 29, 2021 at 6:54 amIt has been our supper more than once during this heatwave, Frank!
Andrea
June 26, 2021 at 8:17 amDear David, a very pretty Italian plate and wonderful fresh summery ingredients to make a perfect salad for hot weather!
Fresh, healthy, with different textures and ever so slightly pre-cooked red onions – that is a wonderful way to serve them as this cooking method gets rid of some of the oniony bite – sounds just wonderful to me, my friend!
Noch ein schönes Wochenende und liebe Gruesse auch an Mark,
Andrea
Cocoa & Lavender
June 29, 2021 at 6:55 amI love the onion flavor, Andrea, but sometimes the “bite” is too much for delicate flavors like the tuna. Thanks for noticing the beautiful plate! 😉
Christina Conte
June 27, 2021 at 11:12 amOne of my favorite summer lunches! I am with you and pay more for better tuna (Callippo is one of my go-to brands). Speaking of vinegars, I just got a white balsamic vinegar with mustard seed in it recently and OMG. I told someone that I don’t know if it will ever end up in my salads and dishes because I could just drink it from a spoon! I’m not a big balsamic vinegar fan (especially the older, sweeter ones) because I adore the acidity in vinegar. The higher the percentage, the better! I actually brought home a 9% from Italy last time I was there!
Now I think I’ll be making this salad for dinner! I’m going to be craving it until I do! 🙂
Cocoa & Lavender
June 29, 2021 at 6:58 amYour new mustard seed-laced white balsamic vinegar sounds intriguing, Christina! We were just given a tomato-infused white balsamic vinegar and it is mild and quite nice. I admit to loving the true aged stuff, but only in certain preparations. For this salad, a high-acid vinegar is the best!
Karen (Back Road Journal)
June 28, 2021 at 11:05 amYou are so right David, it really is important to use the best ingredients when making a salad and yours certainly uses all of them.. I’ve never seen a quart size jar of capers here but I have several small jars in my pantry. We like the capers that are packed in white balsamic vinegar.
Cocoa & Lavender
June 29, 2021 at 6:59 amI’ve never seen capers in white balsamic vinegar, Karen – I will have to look for them!
John
July 7, 2021 at 2:50 amNothing stops me from eating a really good salad, even in winter as we are in the middle of here. Being 1 degree Celcius outside means nothing when I can enjoy the cooling crunch of fresh ingredients. I’m still envious of you boys growing and brining your own capers, but at least that tall skinny jar I have in the fridge will keep me going for a couple of weeks.
Cocoa & Lavender
July 10, 2021 at 10:05 amI wish you had better weather for growing capers, John – it is really fun to have your own!
Inger @ Art of Natural Living
July 21, 2021 at 7:37 pmI find I’m wanting entree salads this summer David. I’ll have to add this to the rotation!
Cocoa & Lavender
July 23, 2021 at 8:14 amThis is a good one! And try adding chickpeas instead of the cannellini beans!