Portuguese Black eyed bean and tuna salad

As most of you already know… I married HIM… a wonderful, amazing and super-duper all-around great, funny & smart guy…who is from Portugal. (Yes – I like to gush about HIM a lot… and it makes him roll his eyes :))

Our cooking styles are very different and although we both take turns, he does his cooking out of necessity while I do it because I love being in the kitchen. (And before you accuse me of forcing him into the kitchen… he feels the need to get in there every once in a while in order to get a taste of “Portugal”… making things from home that he is convinced that I wont be able to re-create…..)

Any-hoo….

We recently hosted an Easter brunch for friends in Brussels… a beautiful spring (sunny) day where 17 people descended upon our apartment and spilled out onto our courtyard terrace … to enjoy a day of food, fun and laughter. Everyone contributed to the table in some way – whether through bottles of bubbles, quiche, chocolate hot cross buns or tiramisu…  so there was definitely what I would call “a selection”… salads, croissants, breads (one of which was baked by moi)… and of course – respecting the continental european way – cheeses & charcuterie….

One of the salads that was devoured in seconds was the Roasted Butternut Salad which I have blogged about before… and the other salad that went down a treat – was a black bean & tuna salad which HIM says is a very traditional Portuguese salad.

wherever it originates from… I don’t mind… because it is easy & delicious – a definite RE-MAKE kind of recipe!

Black-eyed Bean & tuna salad

1 red onion, chopped finely

2 cups of uncooked (dry) black-eyed beans

2 tins of tuna, drained

Parsley

olive oil

• Soak the beans overnight in a bowl of water
• Drain and place into a large pot with fresh water
• Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the beans are tender but still hold their shape (about 1-2hr)
• Rinse, drain and set aside to cool down
• In a large bowl, combine tuna, beans, onion, olive oil and chopped parsley
• Refrigerate for at least 2hr before serving