Albacore Tuna and Bow Tie Pasta Salad

Submitted by COOKGIRl

"Yet another Trader Joe's copycat recipe for one of their excellent pre-packaged salads. Perfectly acceptable to use canned tuna, but for a real treat try some fresh albacore! Please note that all of my ingredient amounts are estimated."

Download

photo by *Parsley*

Ready In:: 30mins
Ingredients:: 16
Serves:: 4-6

ingredients

SALAD
2 cups bow tie pasta
8 ounces fresh albacore tuna, drained (or 2 cans tuna, drained)
1 red bell pepper, minced
1 red onion, cut into crescents
2 teaspoons capers
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
fresh ground black pepper
DRESSING
¹⁄₂ cup rice vinegar or 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
¹⁄₄ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon zest
¹⁄₂ lemon, juice of
1 teaspoon sugar
¹⁄₄ teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon dried dill weed or 1 tablespoon fresh dill weed

directions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse under cold water to halt cooking. Drain.
Broil or pan fry fresh tuna. Set aside. (If using canned tuna, drain and place the tuna in a serving bowl and proceed with recipe.).
Combine dressing ingredients in non-reactive bowl and blend well.
Break up the fresh tuna into bite size pieces and place in serving bowl with the pasta. Toss dressing gently with the pasta, tuna and remaining salad ingredients.
Keep covered and chilled until ready to serve.

Questions & Replies

Got a question? Share it with the community!

Reviews

I made this excellent tuna pasta salad for myself for lunch today and am looking forward to sharing the leftovers with DH for our lunch tomorrow. Like another reviewer indicated, I liked that this salad does not seem heavy. The lemon gives it a light, fresh flavor. I used a good white wine vinegar and I reduced the sugar by half; as like another reviewer, I do not like my dressings to be too sweet. With this modification, it was perfect for me. I used fresh dill and may add even a little more next time as I really enjoyed the dill flavor in this salad. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for posting!

Dr. Jenny
I enjoyed this very much. It's not nearly as heavy as the usual mayo tuna pasta salads. I used the mini bowtie pasta, added extra capers and used a vidalia onion instead of red onion. I may seem watery at first, but as with most pasta salads, it absorbs the moisture. Thanx for posting!

*Parsley*
This a very nice salad. I took the easy way and used canned tuna. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe with us.

mianbao
The dressing was slightly sweet for my tastes, but I know lots of people like that in their pasta salads. My husband did the dressing part and I couldn't stop him fast enough. ;o) The recipe doesn't state what to do with the bell pepper, onion, capers, parsley, garlic or pepper, so I just dumped them all in! I'm not a very intuitive cook, I'm afraid. Does the photo look anything like what it should be? Next time I'll omit the sugar and I'm sure it'll be perfect for us. Thanks, CG!

Sandi From CA

Tweaks

I enjoyed this very much. It's not nearly as heavy as the usual mayo tuna pasta salads. I used the mini bowtie pasta, added extra capers and used a vidalia onion instead of red onion. I may seem watery at first, but as with most pasta salads, it absorbs the moisture. Thanx for posting!

*Parsley*