Day 67 of 90 – La Dolce Vita Mediterranean Series
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🍝 ABOUT THIS RECIPE:
Today, I wanted to make the little black dress of tuna egg salads — one that really stands out from anything I’ve ever had!
Inspired by a rooftop bar in Chicago on a breezy summer day, I imagined the perfect tuna salad that would turn heads and make people stop and rethink their tuna-and-egg game.
So here it is! Classics are great, but I love to build on them and make something uniquely delicious. Follow along with my video tutorial to see how to assemble this stunning platter — elegant, balanced, and full of texture.
We’d love to share all of our kitchen secrets — please follow for more recipes to enjoy!
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🥗 INGREDIENTS — SWANKY TUNA EGG VEGGIE SALAD:
– 3 cans Albacore Tuna
– 3 Hard-Boiled Eggs (chopped chunky)
– 1 Cucumber (seeded and finely chopped)
– ½ Red Pepper + 1 Small Orange Pepper (diced fine)
– ¼ cup Currants
– 1 Shallot (diced fine)
– ½ cup Garbanzo Beans (chopped small)
– ½ cup Artichoke Hearts (chopped fine)
– ½ cup Sharp Aged Cheddar (diced)
– ½ cup Gruyère
– Dash of Salt & Pepper
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💫 INGREDIENTS — THE WHIPPED COTTAGE CHEESE CHERRY JALAPEÑO DRESSING:
– 1 cup Cottage Cheese
– 1 cup Cherry Jalapeño Dip (from Michigan – available at Costco)
– 2 tbsp Mayonnaise (I prefer Hellmann’s or homemade)
– Blend in a food processor until smooth, whipped, and creamy!
– Pairs perfectly with this vibrant, high-protein summer salad.
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🍽️ 4 DELICIOUS WAYS TO SERVE:
1. On Mini Pita Bread
2. Stuffed into Medium Campari Tomatoes
3. With Gourmet Crackers
4. In Individual Romaine Lettuce Leaves (washed & dried)
5. Two toasted slices of sourdough or your favorite crusty bread!)
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🛒 SHOP MY KITCHEN FAVORITES
– Baking Sheet Pan Set (3-Piece) – Perfect for cookies, roasting, or sheet-pan dinners
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– COOK WITH COLOR Mixing Bowls with Lids (12-Piece Set) – Vibrant nesting bowls for every prep need
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– 8-Piece Deep Glass Storage & Baking Dish Set – Rectangular glass bakeware with lids, freezer-to-oven safe
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– LOVECASA Ceramic Casserole Dish with Lid – Deep lasagna pan with handles, oven & dishwasher safe
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– Food Processor & Vegetable Chopper – Ideal for slicing, shredding, mincing, and puréeing
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🌿 LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET:
To learn more about how following a Mediterranean diet can transform your life like it has mine, join me for all the fun at my food blog →
👉 https://VitaRustica.com
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📌 HASHTAGS:
#HighProteinMeal #CottageCheeseDressing #CottageCheeseRecipes #TunaSalad #EggSaladRecipe #NoMeat #HealthyRecipes #SummerSalads #BrunchIdeas #EasyQuickRecipe #MediterraneanDietRecipes #LaDolceVita #VitaRustica #CocktailChatter #HealthyItalianFood #RusticItalianCooking #FoodieLife #LightMeals #CleanEating #MediterraneanLifestyle
[Music] Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Well, welcome everyone. I’m here with another recipe. I’m actually decided to try to create I want to create a fun tuna recipe that might be a little bit different than what you’re used to. So, I sort of took out my creative ideas. I wanted to kind of level up my tuna game here and do something a little fun, maybe a little original and kind of combine all the flavors, some flavors that I think would really go well in here and really take it up a notch and make it just a little bit more savvy. Uh, keeping it fun on the Mediterranean side and just combining some fun flavors. I’m doing a shallot. I decided to instead of an onion, I wanted to keep it really a little bit. The idea is finer pieces uh all coming together in just a little bit of a finer delicate ensemble to create really what I’m trying to do is I want to create three or four different ways to use a my tuna egg salad. I call it tuna egg salad plus. So, here’s a little shallot that I did have laying around. And I and I love shallots because they are light and they do give a little bit of a softer, gentler flavor. But again, in this case, I want everything to be very fine. I did pre- chop some things just to save a little time. So, I’m going to show you what I did already do. I already did three cans of tuna. I I do prefer a very high quality tuna and albaore. So, we’re going to start with that. And then I’m going to go ahead and add the shallot as you can see. So, I’m going to add the shallot right in there. And then some of the things that I already chopped and I thought would be really fun. I’m gonna actually give a shout out to my friend Mary who stopped by and surprised me with her cucumbers from her garden. So, I’m using one of Mary’s cucumbers. Mary, thank you. You’re awesome. So, that’s from Mary. And I really wanted to add more protein. And uh we used a lot of chickpeas growing up. My grandma was big on chickpeas. So, I thought it would be kind of fun to add even more protein and healthier things into the tuna. I thought it would go very nicely. So, I did that. Um, I had some artichokes. I have done just tuna and artichokes and it really does work out really nice and it tastes awesome. So, I got that. What else do I have? Um, I did currants instead of raisins. I do love raisins in my tuna salad when I have it. It just sort of gives that that blend of a little sweet, a little sour. So, it just sort of balances everything out. And then the next thing I’m going to cut up, I have I already cut up, again, this was from Mary’s garden. Thank you, Mary. So, the red pepper. And then I’m going to do a little orange pepper that she gave me, too. So again, trying to really trying to incorporate as much fun, healthy, and colorful vegetables that I can. Um, like I said, the the theme today really is fine chops. I almost got my finger there. Great. Fine chops. In a way, I almost could consider it a tuna egg uh veggie veggie salad because I am putting a lot of vegetables in this one. So, you almost have equal part veggie as you do the tuna and and the egg. So, I think it’ll be very healthy. some of my Mediterranean twists, some fun twists. It’s just something sort of creative I came up with today. So, I like I said, I have the red onion, then I have the the little orange on uh not onion, pepper, red pepper, and orange pepper. Okay. Sorry. Uh my daughter went back to Italy. I’m back to being a one man onewoman uh band here, but that’s okay. Uh, Alexandria made it back to Italy safe. She’s right now in Pulia visiting her aunt. And I know that they’re having a lot of fun. Still summer there. So, they’re enjoying the the great days of August still and into September. So, okay, there we are with the orange and red pepper. Um, some people might find it controversial. I think it’s kind of fun. I’m adding some cheese. cheese with the tuna. Well, I’ve heard of tuna melt, so why not? I love the cheese in there, so I think it’ll be fun. I don’t always do it, but I don’t know. I’m feeling sort of creative, sort of adventurous. I have a little pepper. We’re going to kind of do a little bit of that. I am going to add a pinch of salt, but very little. I do not want the salt to overpower the dish really at all, to be honest. I do like quite a bit of pepper. going to do my little pinch of salt because also there is salt in the uh the cherry cottage cheese spread that I’m going to blend into everything here. So, I’m going to put this aside just for another second and then I’m going to chop up our eggs, which we have right here. I was going to pre-do them, but I forgot. But that’s okay. So, just kind of chop them. These I want a little chunky cuz they kind of blend in too much and I want to be able to taste the egg. I don’t want to be having to search for it. I like to taste that egg. But this is probably the only thing in this recipe that I’m leaving a little chunky just again to give it a switch up because everything I’ve always thought that it is really true what they say that you eat with your eyes first. So, it’s important. So, that’s sort of my thought on that. And you know what? I’m going to add it right to the bowl. Keep it simple. Right into the bowl. I don’t know if you can see that. Like I said, I’m a onewoman band here. Um, I don’t have a ton of video experience. I just know how to cook. Or you know what? And there we’re spilling all the eggs. Great. Okay. But here we go. People say they enjoy my recipes and I appreciate that. I’m always working to improve. I always feel uh my grandmother that I learned my two grandmothers that I learned so many things from. How do I I always think, how do you outdo your teachers? You really can’t. But at least in my opinion, but I could only hope to make them proud of me. So this is the olive oil that we do carry from Pulya from Galentino. I do have it on my website in case you’re interested in checking it out. So I am going to put a little bit of that just to keep it moist and just add another layer of favor. This is infused with lemons. Um I’m adding a dash of paprika for some color. And this is a smoked paprika from Spain. And it’s fun and gives it. And here I live by the train. So you hear the train coming by. I live in my downtown area. And and the train comes by to keep me company. So hope you enjoy that. Okay. So I have all the ingredients put together. The final final step is then to go ahead with my the cottage cheese, mayo, and the jalapeno cherry. This is going to add a really fun touch. So, I’m not going to add it all yet. I want to see how it develops and just sort of start combining it all together and see how much it needs. I don’t like to add too much, but at the same time, you don’t want to have too little either. I want to really taste some of that flavor. So, just keep blending it together, tossing it together. It’s really coming beautiful. I can’t wait to taste it, to be honest. I wish it were here. And um do that. And it feels good. But you know what? I think I can go ahead. I really want to add the rest of it. And honestly, I taste tested it and it tastes awesome. By the way, um I do not I do not get any kickback from it, but I do want to say I came across this at Costco, that cherry jalapeno dip. And let me tell you, I just really love it. I do love cherries. I just think it would add such a cool taste to so many things. So, if you’re ever in at Costco, give it a try. And uh yeah, I made a wonderful dressing with the cottage cheese. And then I’m going to go ahead and show you different ways to present it. I’m going to do one stuffed tomatoes, which could be an appetizer. I’m going to do some other fun things that you’ll see in the next seg. The next segment. Give me a minute. Thank you. Sort of put one right in the middle. So, that’s already adorable. I’m going to put the tomatoes around because they seem to need something to balance balance them. Going to do that. There we go. [Music]
Dining and Cooking