Not your momma's tuna salad!

Tuna salad isn't something that I get excited by. I'll eat it, but I never thought I would devote a blog post to it. That changed a couple of years ago when I stumbled across a tuna salad recipe from Penzeys Spices.

Then, horror of horrors I gave my copy of the recipe away by accident.

Last week I was given some crystallized ginger by a friend who had obtained it from Italy (oooh fancy!) and it inspired me to attempt to hunt the recipe down. Fortunately my good friend Google helped me locate it in a far away forgotten corner of the internet.

So here it is in all its wonderful tuna glory - I've even fed this to people who don't like mayonnaise with nary a single complaint! This is definitely not my mom's tuna salad (or even my mum's tuna salad GRIN)....the reason being is that my mum never made tuna salad in her life, she would on occasion do some very strange culinary experiments with canned salmon though!

Gingered Tuna Salad

1 (7 5/8 ounce) fresh pouch tuna in water - see note below
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup red onion, minced
3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped - see note below
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1 dash cayenne pepper

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, saute the curry powder in olive oil for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. While the curry powder is cooking, mince the onion and chop the crystallized ginger.
3. In a medium bowl, add the mayonnaise, rice vinegar and Dijon mustard; whisk to blend.
4. Add the cooked curry powder, crystallized ginger, onion, pecans and cayenne pepper; whisk again to thoroughly blend.
5. Add the tuna and mix with a fork until tuna is well blended and coated with the dressing.

Notes

I've listed the tuna packet size as listed in the recipe, I couldn't find that size when I went to the store yesterday so I just bought 3 packets that were 2.6 oz. At my store they were only $1 each.

Crystallized ginger is usually in the spice section, it's expensive, but if you are lucky you've saved on the tuna!

The recipe claims that it serves 4, I would think 3 is probably more accurate, at least it is if you have an appetite like mine!