A hearty salad of canned tuna, jammy eggs, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and mizuna microgreens with a light mustardy bite. Lemon dressing, 25 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 - large eggs
- 40 g - red onion
- 2 cans - chunk light tuna in water (260 g drained)
- 150 g - cucumber
- 150 g - cherry tomatoes
- 2 tbsp - olive oil
- 1 tbsp - lemon juice
- 1 tsp - Dijon mustard
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 30 g - mizuna microgreens
STEPS
- Lower the eggs into boiling water, cook for exactly 7 minutes, then move them to a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes.
- Thinly slice the red onion and soak it in cold water for 5 minutes, then drain.
- Drain the tuna and break it into large flakes with a fork. Cut the cucumber into half-moons and halve the cherry tomatoes.
- For the dressing, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper with a fork.
- Peel the eggs and cut them in half.
- Arrange the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and tuna on plates. Toss the mizuna microgreens with half the dressing and pile them on top, set the eggs alongside, and drizzle with the rest of the dressing.
Mizuna Microgreens in a Tuna Salad
Canned tuna and eggs are filling, but their flavor is mild and a little flat. Mizuna microgreens, a Japanese leafy green in the cabbage family, have lacy leaves and a light mustardy bite. With a lemon dressing they keep the salad fresh and stop the tuna from feeling heavy.
Toss the mizuna with the dressing at the last moment: the leaves are thin and wilt under oil within minutes.
About the Ingredients
Mizuna microgreens: 30 g for two servings. Mustard microgreens (spicier) or arugula microgreens make a good swap.
Tuna: chunk light in water. Tuna in oil works too; just use less oil in the dressing.
Eggs: jammy, boiled for 7 minutes. Some of the yolk runs into the salad and works as a second dressing.
Red onion: slice it thin and soak it in cold water for 5 minutes to take the edge off.
Technique: 7-Minute Eggs
Lower cold eggs into boiling water, cook for exactly 7 minutes, and move them straight into ice water for 5 minutes. The white sets firm, the yolk turns thick but not hard, and the shell slips off easily after the ice bath. At 6 minutes the yolk is fully runny; at 9 it’s hard.
Variations
- Niçoise style: add boiled baby potatoes, green beans, and olives.
- With white beans: 150 g canned cannellini beans for a heartier salad.
- With avocado: half an avocado, cubed, in place of the cucumber.
- With capers: 1 tbsp capers in the dressing.
Serving and Storage
Assemble the salad right before serving. The tuna, eggs, and vegetables can be prepped a few hours ahead and kept separately in the fridge, with the dressing in a jar. Whether to wash microgreens before a salad is covered in our wiki: should you wash microgreens.
Another egg salad with microgreens: radish microgreen salad with egg.
CHEF'S TIPS
Put the eggs in straight from the fridge and start timing once the water returns to a boil.
Don't mash the tuna into a paste: big flakes stay juicier.
