GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

Four spectacular salads: My tuna, arugula and bean salad~My red salad~Michael Ruhlman's pork-belly Caesar salad~The Washington Post crab salad.

Jun 05, 2025

[Two years ago, we published Summer Salads, including other terrific favorites of ours.]

MY TUNA, ARUGULA & BEAN SALAD

With an acceleration speed matching a Porsche, with a top-end speed—according to myth—of 100 mph, weighing up to 2,000 lbs, and reportedly costing up to $3 million, it’s hard to imagine that’s a food to be eaten at home, but this mild, buttery, firm and smooth, most often enjoyed raw in sushi and sashimi, you can have Atlantic Bluefin tuna as the main ingredient in tonight’s dinner. This prized tuna, its layers of meat marbled with thin strips of silky fat, is $90 a pound. I’ve never tried it and won’t likely anytime soon.

My preferred tuna is the marvelous yellowfin, definitely in olive oil, which has a mild, slightly sweet, and buttery flavor, a firm yet tender texture. It’s not as subtle or mild as albacore. Add to that the fiery bite of arugula, punctuated by crushed red peppers and balanced out by fire-roasted sweet bell peppers plus slightly sweet, nutty, soft, cream colored navy beans and the buttery crunch of pine nuts and bathed in any one of hundreds of olive oils plus as many vinegars, the the result will bring you breathless joy. All from a simple salad.

YELLOWFIN TUNA IN OLIVE OIL

There are 15 species of tuna, but we’ll only consider the Atlantic Bluefin, Yellowfin, and Albacore here. Yellowfin tuna represents 29% of the world's tuna catch, mainly from tropical regions of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. Yellowfin tuna has a bolder flavor and softer texture than albacore. This makes it ideal where a richer tuna taste is desired, such as salads, sandwiches, or pasta dishes.

ALBACORE TUNA IN OLIVE OIL

Albacore has a milder flavor than most tunas and has a meaty texture. Albacore is white, subtle, and the #1 selling canned tuna in the United States, representing 5% of the world's tuna catch.

ARUGULA

Arugula is a peppery, spicy, and a touch nutty green that originated in the Mediterranean area. It's also known as rucola, salad rocket, and Italian cress. Raw arugula's flavor is distinctly robust, with an initial subtly sweet note that quickly transitions into more of that peppery punch. The intensity of this flavor depends on the maturity of the leaf; younger leaves offer a milder taste, and mature leaves pack a punch. Baby arugula is just arugula leaves that are harvested small and tender. Both are loaded with personality.

[Letters From Tuscany arugula recipes.]

BEANS

I like navy beans, delicate, slightly sweet, nutty, soft, and velvety. But cannellini beans are mighty fine, too. I’ve yet to try fava beans, which I love with leg of lamb, so I'm gonna try them with my next tuna-arugula salad. Navy beans are a small, oval-shaped, creamy-white bean. They're often referred to as haricot beans, Boston beans, pea beans, or Yankee beans. Navy beans are known for their mild flavor and ability to become creamy when cooked, making them versatile for various dishes.

It’s said canned beans lack the robust flavor of dried beans. Maybe so, but canned beans mean you can make this dish in mere minutes, versus soaking dried beans and cooking them for an eon.

PINE NUTS

Pine nuts come in two forms, common and Italian. Both have a buttery crunch. Their soft texture makes them easy to chew, which means they’re a great choice in dishes where you might want a little texture but not much crunch. Pine nuts are the seeds of pine trees. Pine nuts are a bit of a rarity, as there’s an exceedingly long period for the trees to produce cones—up to 10 years!—and harvesting is a difficult process. Italian pine nuts, called pinoli or pignoli, are longer and sweeter, and more flavorful than regular pine nuts and are a bit pricier.

OLIVE OIL

There’s likely a dizzying variety of olive oil brands and flavors at your local supermarket. Just use one you like best, but do experiment with others.

VINEGAR

Ditto with vinegars.

CRUSHED RED PEPPER

Crushed red pepper flakes are spicy, peppery, and have a slightly earthy flavor. They offer concentrated heat, making them a complementary ingredient for adding kick to this salad already buzzing from the arugula.

MY RED SALAD

Red lettuce, radish, red bell pepper, red onion, or any of the 1,000 other red foods that line grocery store aisles. Just Google them. As for tomatoes, two stand head and shoulders above all others. Cherokee Purple tomato. It has a dark, dusty rose color, is very sweet, and has a rich, almost smoky flavor. The fruit is large and refreshingly acidic, thick-skinned with an earthy, lingering flavor. Black Krim has a deep, rich, and slightly smoky flavor with a hint of saltiness. Toss all your ingredients with Western dressing.

MICHAEL RUHLMAN’S PORK-BELLY CAESAR SALAD

It’s so high on my list of must-make salads, I may head to the grocery store after I finish typing this sentence. It’s from one of my all-time fave food guys, Michael Ruhlman, on Substack, and is one mighty enticingly creative dish.

THE WASHINGTON POST’S CRAB SALAD

[From the “Eat Voraciously” column.]

I cotton to crab, so just click on this The Washington Post hyperlink. Several types of crabs are commonly eaten in the United States. Blue crabs are especially popular along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, while Dungeness crabs are a favorite along the Pacific coast.

Blue Crab A popular East Coast crab, known for its blue-green color and sweet, nutty flavor. They are commonly eaten whole, especially when steamed or boiled. Dungeness Crab A large crab found along the Pacific coast, known for its sweet, delicate flavor and firm, tender meat. Dungeness crabs are harvested from Alaska to California. King Crab One of the largest edible crab species, found in Alaska and Russia. King crabs have bright white meat and a delicate flavor. Snow Crab Known for its sweet, mild flavor and bright white meat, snow crabs are found in the cold waters of the northern Pacific and Atlantic. Stone Crab A delicacy, primarily harvested in Florida, where only the claws are eaten. Stone crab claws are prized for their large size, sweet flavor, and firm texture.

[VINTAGE MORELS] adventures with a home cook

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