Samin Nosrat's Favorite Tuna Salad

And where Ina finds cooking inspiration

I asked Ina Garten where she finds inspiration, and her response surprised me - specialty food stores! Ina owned one of the Hampton’s most iconic gourmet shops, The Barefoot Contessa, where the deli case was filled with things you want to eat every day - chicken salad, veggie-packed slaws and likely some early iterations of Violet Witchel’s Dense Bean Salads.

Specialty food stores (or as they’re also called, delicatessans) are such a New York thing, and it made me think of places like Citarella, Zabar’s and the now-closed Dean & Deluca. I loved perusing those markets, imaginging myself picking up a pint of Moroccan carrot salad, curried chicken and a crisp baguette on my way home from work. In reality, as a private chef on a budget, I was the one stocking the fridges of Manhattan’s elite with similar fare.

When I first moved to Oakland, I was tipped off about a local gourmet market. THE Market. Market Hall Foods. The stuff of Nancy Meyers’ dreams. The store is divided into sections: bakery, cheese counter, wine, meat, fish, produce, deli counter, rotisserie, hot foods and a massive prepared foods counter. The kind of place you take a ticket and wait your turn for pints of pasta salad and meatballs.

MH also hosts cookbook author signings, and they roll in a massive wheel of Parm every year from Italy with a lot of fanfare. February 8th is black truffle fest. It’s an upscale vibe. Due to it’s proximity near BART, everyone seems to shop there, even to pick up a slice of their (excellent) pizza or a raspberry-cornmeal scone.

I first heard about Market Hall’s spicy tuna salad from a New Yorker article profiling cookbook author Samin Nosrat. Yes, Samin also shops at MH. I tried the real deal version and reverse engineered this recipe. You mix the lettuce directly with the tuna. It’s more of a tuna salad SALAD than one you’d put between two slices of bread. I love the sweetness from the pickled jalapeños. The brine adds a kick of acidity that breaks up the richness of the mayo (salt, fat, acid AND heat). It is excellent with olive oil potato chips, which I pick up at Trader Joe’s along with those pickled jalapeños - conveniently located across the street from MH, as it so happens.

As Samin says, “it’s so good. It’s so bad, but it’s so good.”

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Spicy Tuna Salad

Makes 1-2 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 (4-ounce) cans tuna packed in olive oil, drained and flaked

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise

• 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoon brine

• 1 small tomato, seeds removed, diced

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• 2 cups finely chopped romaine or little gem lettuce

• Your favorite chips or toast, for serving

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix tuna, cilantro, mayo, chopped jalapeño, jalapeño brine and tomato. 

2. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add a splash more brine if needed.

3. Fold in romaine. Lunchtime!