Recipe Cajun Style Tuna Salad

C

caseydog

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Cajun Style Tuna Salad

As part of my quest to share Texas and Cajun flavors with the forum, I came up with this tuna salad. It can be used for a number of things, such as sandwiches, as a dip, or as in the photo below, a tasty canapé.

Ingredients

2 5OZ Cans Good Quality Tuna
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise (Duke's if you can get it).
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 to 3 hot red chilis finely sliced (I used cayenne peppers from my garden -- shown in photo)

You can add salt to taste, but the tuna is already salty so taste first.

Instructions

Prep all your ingredients, and combine them in a bowl or container. Stir thoroughly.

For best results, park your tuna salad in the fridge overnight to let all the flavors get friendly.

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CD
 
karadekoolaid said:
That looks just great, but I've got to ask:
What parts of the recipe make it Texan? Or Cajun?
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This one is not Texan at all. I was talking in general.

The Cajun part is the Trinity, which is onion, celery and (bell) peppers. I used cayenne peppers instead. Cayenne pepper is also a very common ingredient in Cajun cooking. It is not a Cajun recipe per se, it is a tuna salad that uses some common Cajun ingredients.

Cajun spice is a slow burn kinda' thing. It doesn't hit you in the face, it sneaks up on you. This tuna salad did that. I ate all five of those canapés. The first one was a bit hot, but no big deal. The fifth one had my head sweating a bit. :laugh:

CD
 
Ah I see ciabatta, my favorite. Great recipe if you leave out the celery. I might add capers instead of celery.
 
blades said:
Ah I see ciabatta, my favorite. Great recipe if you leave out the celery. I might add capers instead of celery.
Click to expand...

Celery is a somewhat polarizing ingredient. It is essential in Cajun cooking as part of The Trinity, which is the Cajun version of mirepoix. Carrots were apparently not common in Southern Louisiana back when the French Canadians settled there, so bell peppers replaced them.

I'm not sure how I feel about capers in this tuna salad. I'd definitely go easy with them, as they could easily overwhelm the other ingredients if you use too much.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Celery is a somewhat polarizing ingredient. It is essential in Cajun cooking as part of The Trinity, which is the Cajun version of mirepoix. Carrots were apparently not common in Southern Louisiana back when the French Canadians settled there, so bell peppers replaced them.

I'm not sure how I feel about capers in this tuna salad. I'd definitely go easy with them, as they could easily overwhelm the other ingredients if you use too much.

CD
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I just can't stand celery. I have hated it since childhood. It isn't a criticism of your salad, just an adjustment I would make for my version of it.
 
blades said:
I just can't stand celery. I have hated it since childhood. It isn't a criticism of your salad, just an adjustment I would make for my version of it.
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I understand completely. I know other people who hate celery. You could just leave the celery out, and not replace it with anything. I think that would work just fine.

CD
 
caseydog said:
I understand completely. I know other people who hate celery. You could just leave the celery out, and not replace it with anything. I think that would work just fine.

CD
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Sure but I think substituting something to replace the "bite" of the celery would be even better. It wouldn't take much caper to do that.
 
blades said:
Sure but I think substituting something to replace the "bite" of the celery would be even better. It wouldn't take much caper to do that.
Click to expand...

Hey, give it a try. I love capers, so I'd love to hear how it works. :okay:

CD
 
blades said:
OK. I brought home some frozen yellowfin tuna and capers. The project will probably have to wait for the weekend but I'm ready.
Click to expand...

How are you going to use the fresh/frozen tuna? Canned tuna is cooked. Will you cook your tuna, or use it raw -- or perhaps par cook it?

With raw tuna and capers, I suspect it is going to taste considerably different than the tuna salad I made. I'm thinking the texture will be a lot different, too. Will you be adding something to replace the "crunch" of celery? Perhaps some bell pepper, the third ingredient in the Cajun Trinity?

Not a criticism. Just sayin' that raw tuna and capers are not insignificant substitutions. It will be interesting to hear how it works out. :scratchhead:Watcha' gonna' call your tuna salad?

CD
 
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