Spinach Salad with Egg & Tuna
If you’re looking for a quick and easy protein-packed salad, you can’t go wrong with baby spinach, hard-boiled eggs, and canned tuna fish: you get the bitterness of the greens, the smooth richness of the egg, and the toothsome brininess of the tuna all on one plate. And if you have some beans or tomato wedges, so much the better. Think of it as a cross between a French niçoise and a Spanish ensalada mixta. Prep time is ten minutes or less — if you have to hard-boil the egg, it’s the former, but if you already have hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator, then you’ll probably have lunch or dinner on the table in two minutes flat.
Spinach Salad with Eggs & Tuna
Several handfuls of baby spinach (1 handful per serving)
Hard-boiled eggs, quartered (1 egg per serving)*
1 can tuna fish (a standard 6.5-oz can serves two people)
Beans of your choice — cooked green, canned Northern, kidney beans, whatever you like best (optional)
Ripe tomato wedges (optional)
Fresh herbs, sliced into thin strips (optional)
Extra-virgin olive oil (1 T. per serving)
Mild vinegar, such as white balsamic or cider (2 tsp. per serving)
Sea salt & freshly-ground pepper
Using a fork, chunk tuna fish into a large salad bowl with spinach, beans, and fresh herbs, then toss with olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Mound a serving onto each diner’s plate and garnish with quartered eggs and tomato wedges. You could lay a few more fresh-herb strips over the very top of the egg for increased visual appeal. Olives also make a nice garnish.
Enjoy!
*To hard-boil an egg, simply place egg(s) in a pot of cold water (water should completely cover the egg[s]). Place over high heat and cover. As soon as the water begins to boil, set your timer for 10 minutes and turn down the heat to medium-low — you want a cheerful simmer rather than a pan-rattling boil. (The latter would cause the eggs to crack and possibly leak.)
Promptly at the ten-minute mark, pull the eggs off the heat and place in the kitchen sink. Run cold water into the hot until the eggs are submerged in completely-cold water. You can then peel and eat them right away or leave them in the cold water until they’re ice-cold to the touch and then refrigerate them for later use.
Note: if you do not promptly cool down the eggs, the yolk will turn green around the edges. This won’t affect the flavor, but it will certainly make them less appealing to the eye when you go to use them later on.
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Tags: eggs, hard-boiled eggs, salad, spinach, tuna
