Andy Makes Tuna Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

It's very good.

No, it is, it's very delicious.

I'm like, I'm just very happy.

I think this is my favorite tuna salad ever.

[upbeat music]

I'm Andy Baraghani today I'm gonna be making a tuna salad

but it also has some crispy chickpeas in there.

And also some fresh greens.

A recipe that I was making all the time during the summer

that eventually became a recipe

that's in our March issue out now.

[bouncy music]

So first off, we're gonna crisp some chickpeas.

One can of chickpeas.

[water splashing]

A little bit of a rinse.

Get that starchy, salty, liquid out.

I wanna have control over the salt.

Okay, we'll let that drain.

Next, we're gonna add three tablespoons

extra virgin olive oil.

Let that heat up.

[pan clinking]

So it slides nicely.

I'm gonna add the chickpeas.

Chickpeas that are already cooked from the can,

they go straight into the pan with olive oil.

Now I'm just seasoning that up with salt and pepper today

but you can add all kinds of different spices.

Cumin, coriander, some dried chili works really well.

I came up with this recipe

because I just needed a bigger daytime meal

that kept me fueled for awhile.

And I made a once for the two people

that I'm quarantining with and they loved it.

And so I just kept on making it over and over.

And it's also very easy,

so I didn't mind making it all the time.

You're gonna see the skin start to kind of crack

and shrivel, that's good.

You can definitely do this with other beans.

I like chickpeas probably the most.

I find it the easiest.

It's like there's certain pantry items that I have.

Canned chickpeas is definitely a part of that

and also canned tuna.

I've enjoyed a tuna casserole before

and developed one for BA.

First recipe I developed for BA, true story.

Shocking.

I'm gonna just season these up with some black pepper.

I like a lot of black pepper, one of my favorite spices.

See how much they've darkened and they've shriveled up

and they've become crisp?

I'm gonna add a little bit more salt.

It should be golden brown.

I could take them a little bit longer than a few minutes

but this is, it looks good to me.

I sometimes add a little bit of garlic at the end

but today we're keeping it fairly simple.

[lively music]

Okay, so our chickpeas are cooling.

I'm gonna take a shallot, this is a little bit too big,

so I don't need all of this.

I'm gonna go a little bit smaller.

This is a good shallot, you know how I know?

Because the papery skin really adheres to the flesh.

It doesn't wanna come off.

This is technically one shallot.

It was one shallot and now it's two shallots.

[bell dinging]

Some people would say that it's one shallot.

I am not one of those people.

[knife tapping]

I'm just gonna do a fine dice.

A brunoise, as the French would say.

You don't have to, you could leave it in rings.

You could do however you want.

[Ben] I'm waiting for the Andy look.

I did the zoom in and everything.

No, you know why?

You know why?

Because I don't have my knife with me.

I'm a little rusty.

Just like my father says, if you don't use it, you lose it.

So I'm gonna add the shallots to a large mixing bowl.

Even this is probably a little bit heavier

than I would usually go, but it's fine.

It won't leave your breath too bad.

I'm gonna add one tablespoon red wine vinegar.

You could use white wine vinegar or rice vinegar.

Any of those vinegars work.

I'll let that soften for a bit.

Little bit of salt.

I don't always add mayonnaise

but I do think you need it here.

It just gives the tuna salad

a little bit of a creamy factor.

The dressing isn't gonna be super thick and Dijon mustard.

Dijon mustard is going to add a little bit of heat

and tang, definitely has some good acidity.

A little bit more salt, again, lots of pepper.

Like a lot of pepper in this.

And then I'm going to just mix this up.

It's going to have texture 'cause of the shallots

and the pepper, but it is kind of a loose, creamy dressing.

[spoon clinking]

That already tastes really good.

Little bit of bite from the mustard and the shallots.

Good acidity.

I would like put this,

it's almost like a mustardy cold au poivre sauce.

I would put this on like steak.

Steak or actually this would be really good

for a shrimp cocktail.

[energetic music]

You want tuna water packed.

If you want oil packed, that's fine.

Just go for a good quality tuna.

So I'm going to just pop that open, I'm gonna drain this.

I want to get as much moisture out.

[lighthearted music]

You see?

You see how long you drain it?

And then I'm gonna dump it over here.

You could use a fork, totally okay with that.

I'm gonna actually take my whisk, I tend to do this

and just smash up the tuna.

Whatever tuna you get, there's enough like kind of luscious,

tangy, fatty dressing, that's going to kind of bring life

to that canned tuna.

Canned tuna is just to me,

even when it's really good quality, like very dry

and I like crave a glass of water right after.

So with this, I just ensure that the tuna is nicely dressed.

Not overly dressed though.

I don't want it oozing any kind of the dressing

which is like a pet peeve of mine.

It should just kind of hold together.

It depends, some people like it a little bit more coarse.

Some people want to really mash it up into

like a paste like I am not that type.

This probably needs a little bit of salt too.

[fork clinking]

It's so good.

You don't even need to do anything else to this.

You really don't.

I am going to add my crispy chickpeas.

I'm gonna take, you can use bibb lettuce,

I love bibb lettuce or any kind of leafy green.

I'm using just straight endive

'cause they're a little bit more sturdy

and you could leave them just like this, like little cups.

[endive crunching]

Or today, if you're like me, you just wanna change it up.

I'm gonna go at a slight diagonal, just pop them out.

Like this.

Let's change up the slice today or like,

why don't we wear another sweatpants?

Like, you know what I mean?

I'm going to add some parsley.

I actually just like the simplicity

of the grassiness you get from parsley.

You could add tarragon.

You can add another tender herb that you like

but I think parsley and tarragon work best.

That's like a fist full of greenery

like a garden in your mouth.

Next, I think is what makes this dish extra special.

Pickled chilies.

You could

get away with just adding dried chili flakes

or taking fresh chilies and slicing them up

and adding some vinegar and adding that to the dish.

Pepperoncinis, I love, I would just like throw them in whole

or like coarsely chopped.

These I think are gonna be quite spicy.

So I'm gonna try them.

So let's see.

[alarm ringing]

They're spicy, they're very spicy.

I'm gonna add three chilies.

Next, I'm gonna add a little bit of zest,

'cause it adds brightness, it adds some acidity,

a floral note, very, very nice.

A little bit of salt, 'cause the greens need salt,

everything else has been salted.

I'm gonna add my remaining two tablespoons of oil,

the juice of half a lemon.

The tuna is dressed, but you want some lemon juice

for the chickpeas and the greens.

Typically I would use my hands

but because of the tuna, it's a little messy.

Am I organized, Ben?

I think, I think I'm clean.

[Ben] I just remember every time on Back to Back Chef.

Oh, but that's, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I always had a clean station,

but we had to clear our entire station

for Back to Back Chef.

I just found it a little bit of an inconvenience

to clean my entire station when

I needed to use it.

No, no, it was always clean though.

Anyways!

[fast-paced music]

And now we plate.

There's a lot going on here.

It's very textured.

There's a lot of texture between the chickpeas

and the greens and the parsley, some heat, acidity.

It's very simple and very satisfying.

I'm gonna give it a try.

It's very good.

No, it is, it's very delicious.

I'm like, I'm just very happy.

And it's not because it's really my first meal of the day.

You have so much texture

and that little bit of heat from the chilies

and lots of black pepper

and acidity from both the lemon and vinegar.

I think this is my favorite tuna salad ever.

I knew this was a special thing when I made it

for someone that I care about and it became their favorite.

You guys should make it, let me know if you have questions

and you can find the recipe out in the March issue now.

[bouncy music]

[Woman] What are you listening to these days,

Andy, when you cook?

Well, what I typically listen to, it's Billie Holiday,

Aretha Franklin, sometime Janet, Miss Jackson [indistinct].

Diana Ross, what else?

I mean, I also, there's people that I know I wanna listen to

but I know like the house would not,

would be annoyed if I played on like Metallica

or Janis Joplin.

I'll listen to Led Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin I think is always good cooking music.

Yeah, now I'm just getting nostalgic.