The Salty Cheese That Gives Tuna Salad A Luxurious Twist

See that sad can of tuna in the pantry that you're planning on stuffing into a sub with a slick of mayo? We recommend giving your protein a luxuriously upmarket twist first by turning into a gourmet tuna salad. The secret? A handful of salty, savory, protein-packed Parmesan.

If you've ever scattered Parmesan over a lasagna or pizza before, you'll already be familiar with the satisfying roundness and moreish quality it imparts to a variety of dishes; it sort of "completes" the taste of pastas and risottos with its complex character. This is because Parmesan is naturally high in glutamate; the clever compound that lends food a super-savory umami taste. Add it to your tuna salad and it will imbue your dish with a delicious salty twang and deep nuttiness that comes from its lengthy maturation period. At the same time as lending your tuna salad an intense savoriness, this aged cheese will also thicken the consistency of your mixture, making it the perfect texture for slathering over bread to make a fancy tuna melt, scooping up with keto parmesan crisps, or serving over mixed greens.

The most effective way to add Parmesan to your tuna salad is to shred it finely, using a microplane, and combine it into your mayo-based dressing or lemony vinaigrette. This move guarantees that all of that umami flavor will be evenly distributed throughout your dish. Then you can incorporate veggies, such as red onion or chopped celery, to add crunch and a fresh, inviting aroma.

If you're a sucker for salads that taste different with every bite, consider crumbling your Parmesan into your tuna salad at the very end instead of the beginning. These irregular nuggets of grainy, salty cheese will create punchy pockets of flavor in your salad that won't affect the texture of your mixture. Of course, the benefit of adding any variety of cheese to a tuna salad is its melting capability. Simply stuff your dressed protein into a bagel, quesadilla, or burrito and lay it on a dry skillet to give your Parmesan just enough time to melt through. You could even scatter an extra grating on your skillet before placing your tortilla on top to create a crispy, savory shell that complements the softened cheese and yielding tuna inside.

While briny add-ins, like pickles, olives, and capers, are awesome for lending tuna salad a subtle salinity, they can make the finished dish a tad salty if you've already incorporated a generous handful of Parmesan. To avoid overpowering your tuna salad, incorporate crunchy vegetables that haven't been fermented or pickled to create the perfect balance. For example, mixing shredded cabbage into tuna salad provides crunch without offsetting the flavor of your fish.