Fagioli e tonno
A Florentine trattoria classic, eaten in summer as antipasto or a light lunch. Creamy cannellini beans, tuna in olive oil and red onion — nothing more, apart from good oil. Two details make the difference: the beans are dressed while warm so they absorb the oil and vinegar, and the onion soaks in water with vinegar, losing its harshness while gaining crunch and a pink colour.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the onion 20 min
- Dressing the beans 5 min
- Combining 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSlice the onion into thin rings
Cut the red onion into rings 2 mm thin and separate them with your fingers. Thin rings are crisp and do not overwhelm the beans; thick pieces of onion dominate the whole salad.
Ingredients: 500 g cannellini beans · 200 g tuna in olive oil · 1 pcs red onion · 4 tbsp parsley
Soak the onion in vinegar water
Cover the rings with cold water and a spoon of vinegar for 20 minutes, then drain and dry. Vinegar and water take away the sharp sulphurous taste, leaving the onion crisp, sweetish and bright pink.
Ingredients: 60 ml olive oil · 2 tbsp red wine vinegar · 300 ml water · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Twenty minutes in vinegar water — sweet and pink.Warm the beans
Drain the beans, rinse and warm briefly in a pan with a spoon of water, or cover with boiling water for 2 minutes. Warm beans absorb the dressing better than cold ones.
Ingredients: 500 g cannellini beans · 200 g tuna in olive oil · 1 pcs red onion · 4 tbsp parsley
Dress the beans while warm
Drain the warm beans and at once toss with most of the oil, the vinegar, salt and pepper. Tuscans always dress beans warm — cold, they refuse the oil and the salad is bland with a greasy film on top.
Ingredients: 60 ml olive oil · 2 tbsp red wine vinegar · 300 ml water · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Warm — only then do beans drink up the oil.Cool the beans to room temperature
Leave the beans 15 minutes, stirring once, to cool and take up the dressing. Tuna added to hot beans turns dry and stringy.
Ingredients: 500 g cannellini beans · 200 g tuna in olive oil · 1 pcs red onion · 4 tbsp parsley
Fold in the tuna in big flakes
Drain the tuna and fold it in gently in large flakes, without mashing. In this salad tuna is an equal partner, and its pieces should be present in every mouthful.
Ingredients: 500 g cannellini beans · 200 g tuna in olive oil · 1 pcs red onion · 4 tbsp parsley
Large flakes of tuna — not a mash.Add the onion and parsley
Stir in the drained onion and chopped parsley. Taste and season — beans need more salt than you expect, being bland themselves. Finish with a spoon of oil.
Ingredients: 500 g cannellini beans · 200 g tuna in olive oil · 1 pcs red onion · 4 tbsp parsley
Serve at room temperature
Serve at room temperature, never from the fridge, with Tuscan bread to wipe the oil from the plate. In Florentine trattorias it is antipasto, but with bread it is a full summer lunch.
Ingredients: 500 g cannellini beans · 200 g tuna in olive oil · 1 pcs red onion · 4 tbsp parsley
Before you start
Good tuna
In a three-ingredient salad the tuna must be good: in whole pieces, in olive oil, ideally belly (ventresca). Cheap tuna in vegetable oil, mashed to a paste, spoils the whole thing.
Dried beans are better
Cannellini cooked yourself with sage and garlic are creamier and tastier than tinned. Soak overnight and simmer an hour. Tinned work very well all the same.
Two days in the fridge
The salad keeps two days in the fridge and makes a good packed lunch. Take it out half an hour before eating and add a spoon of oil — in the fridge the oil thickens and the salad seems dry.
