Like most people these days, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking. Like I didn’t realize how many meals I didn’t eat at home until now. It’s honestly a little exhausting. But also, I’ve been accidentally creating lots of tasty recipes using things I normally never eat. All the meat and fish I have lives in the freezer these days, but I’m lazy and don’t want to go through the trouble of defrosting it. Also turning on the stove is a lot of work. So these packets of tuna have been a real life saver.

I’ve also been trying to incorporate more greens into my diet, and I think this salad is the perfect way to do so. Although it was born out of combining random ingredients I had on hand, I think this rivals any sweetgreen salad. No offense. Plus it requires virtually no cooking, just throwing things in the oven and forgetting about them for a bit.

Specifically, my favorite roasted veggies, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts and tomatoes. And this mustard vinaigrette takes like 10 seconds max to make. It’s great.

To make this dish slightly lighter, I mixed the tuna with avocado, and it actually turned out really well. The avocado masks the slight fishiness of the tuna, and adds another creamy component. Plus I just really love avocado these days.

And to finish the salad, I added more avocado(because why not), and cucumber for some more crunch. Also super important, if you’re using a leafy green like spring mix, spinach, or baby kale as a base, I definitely recommend chopping it up, because it makes the salad easier to toss, and for the dressing to evenly coat the leaves.

fancy tuna salad

serves: 2

cooking time: 20 minutes

ingredients:

1 medium avocado
2 packets of single-serving albacore tuna(about 6 oz, total)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup brussels sprouts, halved
approximately 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cucumber, sliced
1/2 roasted sweet potato, cut into cubes
3 cups spinach, or any other leafy green, chopped

steps:

Preheat the oven to 430º, and line a baking tray with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil.
Place brussels sprouts and cherry tomatoes on baking tray and toss with one tablespoon of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Roast vegetables for approximately 15 minutes, or until sprouts are crispy and tender and tomatoes are soft and jammy.
Meanwhile, prepare the tuna: mix the packets of tuna with half an avocado, and season to taste.
Next, prepare the vinaigrette: whisk together the rest of the olive oil, mustard, and apple cider vinaigrette, along with pepper and salt to taste. If the dressing is too thick, add more olive oil until it becomes runny enough to evenly coat the salad.
Assemble the salad. Combine the sweet potato, roasted tomatoes and brussels sprouts, cucumber, the diced other half of the avocado, the tuna mixture, and the spinach. Toss with the dressing and serve.