Tuna Fish and Cannellini Beans Salad

TV and Film star Debi Mazar (Entourage, Goodfellas) and her Tuscan husband Gabriele Corcos make real home-style Italian classics.

“It is summer, it is hot, it is still!
Today we decided not to cook and whipped out a quick tuna salad that made a perfect date lunch by the pool.
This is probably the quickest recipe we have done so far, thanks to the canned beans and fish.
Yes, we buy canned food too! Not the heat up and serve kind of can (soups etc...), we always have in our pantry some tuna, some beans, tons of pelati tomatoes, chickpeas...sometimes, and sardines. Gabriele is the only one that eats sardines.
Also Gabriele does not like seeing too many cans around: it reminds him of his mom going nuts when Chernobyl happened. She transformed their house in a 99 cents store of everything canned, with a tree years shelf life. Eventually the radioactive-rain-scare passed, a lot of milk got thrown away...but we believe that some of those cans might remain in the most remote corners or our Tuscan basements.
Time to eat now,
eat and drink!

Today we are drinking a very special wine: Passito di Pantelleria.
As old as 800 BC, this sweet fruity wine is a very romantic touch for a sunny summer morning “Aperitivo”, or in the evening, after having spent the whole day at the beach.
Enjoy this bottle of Ben Rye’, from Sicily’s Donna Fugata Winery. Imported by Folio, it can be purchased online at Noble Merchants.”

How To:
Rinse the beans very well, open the tuna and try to “squeeze” out most of the oil (or water).
Rinse well the tomatoes and chop them in quarters, add them to the beans.
Chop the onion and break the basil, mix well all the ingredients, season with Olive Oil and Balsamic (Deb likes it with Lemon too),
serve and enjoy!

We also planned to prepare some fettunta (toasted bread with garlic and olive oil), but at the last minute we realized we did not have garlic,
so... sorry, no fettunta.
Also, our attempt of trying a new dressing for our salad did not go too well, but if your sink gets clogged, it might be come in handy to have this new product from Kraft in your pantry.

By the way, this makes a great picnic dish, or a beach out of the cooler treat...oh life is wonderful!

Buon Appetito
Debi and Gabriele