• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Classes
    • Books
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

Rustic Tuscan Bean Salad Recipe

April 22, 2016 by Jeanne

This rustic Tuscan bean salad recipe contains an abundance of protein, healthy carbohydrates and fiber…and flavor. Did I mention flavor? Bright, with overtones of onion and basil that will engage your sense in this healthy, wonderful salad. It’s a recipe from the garden worth keeping.

rustic Tuscan bean salad recipe

 

 

Rustic Tuscan Bean Salad Recipe

This rustic Tuscan bean salad recipe came to me today after reading through numerous recipes in the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. As you may recall from other recipes I’ve shared, the original cookbook, published in 1896, contains so much common sense cooking wisdom, basic recipes for everything from German potato salad to corn bread, and everything in between that it is my go-to book for all types of recipes.

I found the Tuscan bean salad recipe in the cookbook and adapted it to my own needs and tastes. I’ve cut way back on sugar, so no added sugars. I didn’t have fresh basil on hand as the original recipe called for, so I substituted some dried basil from last year’s garden. I did have fresh parsley, thanks to a wonderful plan purchased last year from my friend Beth’s Long Ears Herb Farm which was so robust and healthy it wintered over in the garden.

You can use canned cannelli (white) beans and canned tuna fish to make the recipe. Canned beans contain a high amount of salt, so it is best to drain and rinse the beans before adding them to the recipe. I pour the can into a colander and rinse them thoroughly under cool running water, stirring with a spoon until all of the liquid from the canned beans has been rinsed off.

For tuna fish, use the driest, flakiest tuna you can find. Water or oil packed doesn’t matter, but you want nice chunky tuna for this recipe.

Tuscan bean salad 1

Recipe for Tuscan Bean Salad: Ingredients

From the garden…

  • 1 small white or yellow onion or about 1/4 cup diced
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped basil
  • 1 cup Romaine or leaf lettuce, rinsed and shredded

From the pantry…

  • 1 can of white beans (about 14 ounces)
  • 2 cans of tuna fish (about 8 ounces total)
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 6 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Crumbled feta cheese (about 2 tablespoons)

Tuscan bean salad

 

Tuscan Bean Salad Directions

  • Rinse and drain the canned beans under cool, running water. Pour into a bowl.
  • Drain the tuna fish and mix it into the beans.
  • Dice the onion fine. Add to the bowl
  • Dice the herbs. Add to the bowl
  • Mix the vinegar and oil. Pour over salad. Stir gently to combine.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place the washed, shredded lettuce into a serving bowl. Add one scoop of about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the Tuscan bean salad recipe over the lettuce. Drizzle with remaining vinegar and oil dressing from the bowl.

Serves 2 large portions of 4 smaller portions.

I hope you enjoyed delightful recipe from the garden. Keep growing, keep creating. Happy gardening!

 

Happy growing 2016 signature blog

Jeanne
Jeanne

Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.

Tweet
Share
Pin1
Share
1 Shares

Filed Under: Salad Recipes, Vegetarian Meals Tagged With: salad recipe

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « Growing Parsley
Next Post: New Eggplant Varieties to Try »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jamie

    April 28, 2016 at

    That looks delicious! Pinning it to try one weekend! #HomeMattersParty

  2. Crystal

    May 1, 2016 at

    This looks so good! I would have never thought to pair the beans and tuna! #HomeMattersParty Pinning for later!

  3. Lorelai @ Life With Lorelai

    May 5, 2016 at

    I’ve never thought of combining tuna and beans. This sounds delicious.

    ~Lorelai
    Life With Lorelai

  4. Michelle James

    May 5, 2016 at

    What an awesome recipe & healthy as well! Thanks for sharing #HomeMattersParty

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

a white bowl filled with vegan creamy cauliflower soup made with orange cauliflower

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup

a close up of a pink Christmas cactus flower on a wooden table

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas Cactus

red celosia flowers in the garden

How to Save Flower Seeds

savory on a wooden table

How to Grow Summer Savory

Footer

a woman holding a popover with the cream interior revealed and two other popovers on a plate

Best Popover Recipe

This is the best popover recipe ever! It was easy to make and turned out delicious popovers. This was my first time making popovers, and I can’t remember the last time I had one, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As usual, I turned to my trusty Fannie Farmer 13th Edition Cookbook and found…

Read More

Christmas present under the tree

Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide

Are you looking for Christmas gifts for gardeners? This is your holiday gift guide to find the perfect present for that special gardener in your life! Ready? Let’s go shopping! Christmas Gifts for Gardeners: Your Holiday Gift Guide Maybe you’re searching for the perfect Christmas gifts for gardeners in your life. Or perhaps you are…

Read More

a white bowl filled with vegan creamy cauliflower soup made with orange cauliflower

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup

This recipe for vegan creamy cauliflower soup offers a tasty, filling comfort food for cold winter’s nights – all without any animal products. The secret to its amazing taste is a combination of dried summer savory and parsley stirred liberally into the simmering vegetables. Here’s the full recipe and instructions for my vegan creamy cauliflower…

Read More

a close up of a pink Christmas cactus flower on a wooden table

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas Cactus

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas cactus. So many people love these plants, but so many people also don’t know how to take care of them. Now, part of that is the name – Christmas cactus. Unfortunately, whoever discovered them in the rain forests thought they were cacti, and so they received this unfortunate designation. In…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme