Tuna and White Bean Salad: A No-Cook Supper for Catholic Lent
Tonno e fagioli is what an Italian pantry cooks when nobody wants to turn on the stove: two cans of tuna, two cans of white beans, a red onion sliced thin, and a dressing of lemon and good olive oil. It appears on tables all over Italy in summer, but it is just as naturally a Lenten dish — fish and beans have carried meatless Fridays for centuries, and this is the fastest honest version of that pairing there is.
The whole thing takes about ten minutes of actual work, most of it slicing an onion. There is no cooking to supervise and nothing to keep warm, which makes it the recipe to know for the Fridays when the fast is willing but the schedule is not. And it is not a compromise dressed up as dinner: creamy beans, flakes of tuna that stay in real pieces, the little briny snap of capers, and enough lemon to keep it bright. Make it ahead and it only improves — the beans drink in the dressing and the flavours settle into each other.
Ingredients
- 2 cans (425 g / 15 oz each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well
- 2 cans (142 g / 5 oz each) good tuna in olive oil, drained (reserve 1 tbsp of the oil if you like)
- 1/2 medium red onion, sliced as thinly as possible
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tbsp capers, drained (optional)
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
- 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- Lemon wedges and crusty bread, to serve (optional)
Method
- Slice the red onion as thinly as you can and, if you want its bite softened, soak the slices in a bowl of very cold water for 10 minutes. Drain well and pat dry.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper until the salt dissolves. If your tuna came packed in olive oil, whisk in a tablespoon of that oil too.
- Add the beans to the dressing and fold them through gently until every bean is coated.
- Flake the tuna into the bowl in large pieces — break it with a fork as you add it rather than shredding it fine — and add the capers if using.
- Add the onion and parsley and toss once more, gently, so the beans stay whole and the tuna stays in flakes.
- Rest the salad for 5 minutes so the beans take up the dressing, then taste: another pinch of salt, a squeeze more lemon, or a thread of olive oil, as it needs. Serve at cool room temperature with lemon wedges and crusty bread.
Rule source: Catholic abstinence rule: Code of Canon Law c. 1251 and the USCCB norms — on days of abstinence (every Friday of Lent; Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also days of fasting) the meat of land animals and birds is excluded, while fish, dairy and eggs are permitted.
Notes
- Buy tuna in olive oil. In a salad this simple, the tuna is the main event, and oil-packed tuna is richer and moister than water-packed. Reserve a spoonful of its oil for the dressing.
- Rinse the beans properly. The canning liquid dulls the dressing and clouds the salad; a good rinse keeps the flavours clean.
- A gentle hand at the end. Stir hard and the beans mash and the tuna disappears into shreds. Fold, don't stir.
- Make it ahead. Assembled, it keeps up to 3 days in the fridge. Refresh each serving with a teaspoon of lemon juice and a little olive oil if it tastes muted after chilling.
- Variations that stay meatless: halved cherry tomatoes and a handful of arugula over the top; a third of a cup of Kalamata olives and a pinch of dried oregano; or half the onion swapped for thinly shaved fennel.
Frequently asked questions
Is tuna allowed on a Lenten Friday?
Yes. Abstinence excludes the meat of land animals and birds; fish — fresh or canned — has always been permitted, which is why fish on Fridays became the custom in the first place.
Does it count as a real meal?
For an ordinary Friday of Lent, yes: beans and tuna together give protein and substance. This post is not tagged strict-day — for Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, choose one of the heartier mains in the collection and keep this for the Fridays in between.
Can I make it without capers?
Of course — they're a briny accent, not a structural part. A few sliced olives do similar work. ---
