Avocado Tuna Salad w/ harissa and kale (no mayo)

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Yesterday was tuna Tuesday. Loathe to make anything, except baked goods, the same week to week this presents a challenge for my morning weary brain. But this week leftovers aided the challenge. Tuna plus avocado kale salad. Add harissa and the result is creamy without mayonnaise, packed with peppers heat and flavor, bright and bold and not your usual Tuesday tuna salad sandwich.

Have you tried Harissa yet? Heat balanced with flavor. The ingredients vary slightly but generally Harissa is less hot than other spreads and is more salt than vinegar. We prefer the Moroccan version, which we buy at our local Mediterranean market. It’s this year’s Sriracha. I’m starting to see it used a buzzword in snack items. Culinary hipster that I am (please note my self depreciating tone here) I’ve had a bottle of rooster sauce in my fridge for years. No, not the same bottle. And, yes, I know it doesn’t need to be refrigerated but it keeps its bright color in the fridge and it has the jar of harissa to keep it company.

You can make harissa at home. Smitten Kitchen has a great recipe.  I don’t feel compelled to make my own hot sauces that often. Come end of summer when peppers of all varieties are in abundance I will but at the rate the mister goes through Harissa I’d be making it once a month. I’d rather bake bread.

Avocado Tuna Salad w/ harissa and kale (no mayo)

Enough for two generous sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 5-ounce can of tuna (I used solid white)
• 2-4 teaspoons of harissa (I used Tazah Harissa which is milder, made with preserved lemons, and has a coarser texture than most of the other harissas we’ve bought which works well here. Rather than a harissa paste, if that’s all I had, I would use a red pepper tapenade and add heat- but most harissas in glass jars seem to have a rougher cut.)
• ¼ cup finely diced onion- any variety
• 1 cup avocado kale salad (or, alternately, 1 cup of shaved kale tossed with a splash of lemon juice and olive oil to coat)
• ½ an avocado, smashed (if using straight kale rather than the kale salad add a whole avocado, mashing half and dicing half)

Directions

1. If using solid tuna add the tuna and the harissa to a large bowl breaking up the tuna into bite sized pieces.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and thoroughly combine.
3. Serve on a soft roll or with crackers or over lettuce or eat it straight from the bowl.

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Avocado Tuna Salad w/ harissa and kale (no mayo)

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Ingredients

  

• 1 5- ounce can of tuna I used solid white
• 2-4 teaspoons of harissa I used Tazah Harissa which is milder, made with preserved lemons, and has a coarser texture than most of the other harissas we’ve bought which works well here. Rather than a harissa paste, if that’s all I had, I would use a red pepper tapenade and add heat- but most harissas in glass jars seem to have a rougher cut.
• ¼ cup finely diced onion- any variety
• 1 cup avocado kale salad or, alternately, 1 cup of shaved kale tossed with a splash of lemon juice and olive oil to coat
• ½ an avocado smashed (if using straight kale rather than the kale salad add a whole avocado, mashing half and dicing half)

Instructions

 

• If using solid tuna add the tuna and the harissa to a large bowl breaking up the tuna into bite sized pieces.
• Add the remaining ingredients and thoroughly combine.
• Serve on a soft roll or with crackers or over lettuce or eat it straight from the bowl.

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