Scatterbrained Tuna

18/08 SCATTERBRAINED TUNA

P.S. It's my birthday... 

Too much! At the moment there is too much of everything. Too much to handle. Too much to deal with. Too much left in the fridge. The only thing to do is make the most of the situation. In the case of my life, and indeed everyones life, you can't complain about what you don't have if you don't try to get it. Contrariwise you can't use what you don't have. So con fuddle your brain with a massive bowl of jumble.

This jumble was once a tuna salad which got lost, went in two directions at once and ended up somewhere between bonkers and delicious. There is a lot of ingredients I know, what was available in the kitchen - but divide them into their families and they can all be substituted. The crunch family, the soft family and the sloppy family (the dressing). My intuitive sense of the human creature tells me that we are all scatterbrained, so try this and see if anything makes sense - our at least it will all make no sense together.

Ingredients (all approximate) - Feeds ALOT or lasts for days*

1/2 Iceberg Lettuce
1/4 Red Cabbage
1 Onion
3 Tomato
3 Carrots
1/2 Celery
1 Avocado
6 Mushrooms
1 Tin Tuna (185g)
1 Tin mixed beans
Hummus
Apricot Chutney
Olive Oil
Vinegar
Salt + Pepper

*so I hope you like it


What I did - 

There is nothing more stressful then a complicated salad. So this tries to be the opposite. Despite the large variety of ingredients, there are three main factors - the crunchy, the soft and the dressing.

The crunchy ingredients up for the chop are lettuce, cabbage, onion, carrots, celery. The carrots are best shredded on a large gauge grater. The onion, cabbage and lettuce sliced into thin spindly strands. The celery diced into thin moon-shapes. The main thing is to make each ingredient thinner and easier to fork. Tumble into a large mixing bowl.

The soft ingredients are mushrooms, avocado, tomato, tuna and beans. Open and drain the tuna and beans, then turn into the bowl of crunch. Gouge out the pale green avocado with a spoon until all that remains is satisfying spoon scrape on the husk. Tear up the mushrooms and add to the top of the heaving mixing bowl.

The dressing is the easiest part, and most satisfying. In a glass jar add the hummus, chutney, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Shake violently until all the ingredients succumb to a emulsified thickness. Empty over the top of the mixing bowl.

With a grain of patience use two large serving spoons to mix the bowl together. The former pile up of ingredients will slowly come together. Once mixed let it sit for half an hour, allowing all the ingredients to soften slightly and become the one deliciously scatterbrained salad.

JG