Recipe: Crisp Tuna-Cabbage Salad

I love a little crunch in my tuna salad. I also am not the biggest fan of mayonnaise; I like a dab, but no more. Here’s a tuna salad in that spirit — fresh, crisp, and light, with more vegetables than tuna in the mix.

I used Wild Planet light skipjack tuna for this salad. We’re big fans of Wild Planet’s responsibly sourced canned tuna around here. (Sara Kate mentioned them in her roundup of a past Fancy Food Show.) Their light skipjack tuna is a little more expensive, but it’s lower in mercury than other canned tuna, and skipjack is overall one of the best picks for tuna.

Here’s Monterey Bay Aquarium‘s Seafood Watch’s take on this variety of fish: “Skipjack tuna caught with troll or pole-and-line gear receive a ‘Best Choice’ recommendation because there is little or no bycatch associated with this collection method.”

All good things, and the tuna itself is delicious. You can see it above, just after I opened the can. A solid mass of tuna! No little flecks and specks swimming in water.

I mixed the tuna with a generous quantity of finely chopped cabbage, which makes up the bulk of the salad. The tuna adds protein, and it’s all dressed with just a touch of mayonnaise helped out by Greek yogurt. This lighter approach to tuna salad is simple and fresh; it benefits from a healthy helping of black pepper, too. I’d love to add a little garlic next time — an addition just for weekend lunches, perhaps! (Tuna and garlic? No need to overwhelm your coworkers!)