::recipe::

Recently, one of my closest friends dropped by on Christmas Eve {day} and unexpectedly dropped off a gift for me. He is one of my best friends and I have known him for quite a while. We have gone through a lot together and he has always been there for me. He's the type of friend that would come and pick you up at 3am even if he is hours away doing something.

From what he said, he felt bad that I was spending my first Christmas away from home and with no family.

I mentioned before that the Christmas that had just passed was my first with no family at all.

He knows how much I adore food and especially Italian food as well.

His family is from Italy and I was born there. Even though my background doesn't reside there but in Poland, I still have an infatuation with what I call my home town - Rome.

So, he dropped off a great present that day. :)

I got the cookbook "Everyday Italian" by one of my favorite TV chefs; Giada De Laurentiis.

She makes great, simple, clean & perfect food. :)

The one reason that struck me right away to try out was the White Bean and Tuna Salad. I love tuna and I love beans. Especially after my boyfriend got me into chili hardcore. :)

I think I will definitely give this a try and decided to share with you the first recipe that I thought I would try out after checking this cookbook out.
There are a lot more recipes in there that I still have to look through, but this is the first one. :) So I just wanted to say thank you to my friend, who was very thoughtful through this time of year, and we will definitely get together for some drinks and pick a random recipe to try out really soon! :)

Bon Appetit!

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White Bean Tuna Salad

A recipe by the one and only Giada De Laurentiis {you can find more on the Food Network Canada website or her gorgeous cookbooks!}.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Level: Easy

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 (6-ounce) cans dark meat tuna, packed in olive oil {I will probably use white meat}

2 (15-ounce) cans cannelini white beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup small capers, nonpareil in brine, drained and rinsed

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes

2 cups fresh arugula

6 fresh basil leaves

Directions

In a large bowl, add the tuna, reserving the olive oil in a separate small bowl. Break tuna into bite-size pieces with a large fork. Add the beans and capers. Into the bowl of olive oil, add the red wine vinegar. You should have 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil - add more extra-virgin olive oil if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Pour dressing on the tuna, bean and caper mixture and allow the flavours to infuse while slicing the vegetables. Add the onion and tomatoes to tuna mixture and toss gently.

Place the arugula on large decorative platter and top with tuna mixture. Tear fresh basil leaves over the top and serve immediately.

It's a pretty simple recipe {when do I give you difficult ones! Lol.} but I want to make a note and let you guys know that I don't think that you need to throw in cannelini beans in there...maybe you can sub for white kidney...and I probably might not add tomatoes...but we will see. You can probably add whatever veggies you'd like - maybe avocado or asparagus. Let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions or subs for this recipe...and if you try it before any of us do, then share! Let us know what you think!

-S.*

(Source: Food Network Canada)