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Tuna Pasta Salad with Lemon, Green Olives, and Cucumbers

Tuna Pasta Salad with Lemon, Green Olives, and Cucumbers
  • Category

    Pasta

  • Cusine

    American

Ingredients

2 cups Dreamfields or whole grain pasta, cooked in boiling salted water and drained well

5-6 oz. good quality tuna packed in olive oil, drained

8 large Spanish green olives, cut into half moon slices

2 small Persian cucumbers, cut into very small dice

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

lemon zest and lemon juice from one large lemon

1/2 tsp. olive brine

3 T mayo

1 T olive oil

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, adding a couple of teaspoons of salt. When the water boils, add the pasta, stir, and let it come back to a boil. Lower heat a little and cook exactly 9 minutes and then drain the pasta and let it cool. While the pasta cooks, drain the tuna into a fine strainer and let the oil drain out. Slice the olives into half-moon slices and finely chop the cucumbers. Zest and juice the lemon. If you’re not sure how much lemon flavor you want, I would start with 2 T lemon juice and 2 tsp. lemon zest, mix in the olive brine and mayo, whisk in the olive oil, and then taste to see if you want to use the rest of the lemon juice and zest. When the pasta has cooled, add the tuna, sliced olives, and chopped cucumbers to a bowl that’s big enough to hold all the salad and mix in about half the dressing. Gently stir in the pasta and as much additional dressing as you need for the salad to be as wet as you’d like it. Season salad to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper and serve.