Bean & Tuna Salad Endive Boats
Salad as a picnic-perfect finger food.
Last Friday, on the hottest day of the year thus far, I found myself sitting in a regional park trying to enjoy lunch with my husband, my kid, and my dad and his wife in what we euphemistically referred to as “very warm” weather. My daughter’s class was participating in a “Greek pentathlon” with other fifth grades from all of the Bay Area, so the family was spending the day watching tweens throw discuss and javelins and do their best with long jump and wrestling.
For lunch, I planned ahead and made a big bean salad modeled on the one in Six Seasons: I had cooked white beans, slivered green beans, and crunchy pieces of snap peas all mixed up with finely chopped lettuce and herbs and seasoned with a light dressing and some minced capers. I even stirred in some good-quality tuna for extra umph. The meal was great for the occasion—it was good served cold, hearty enough to keep us going through a long day (especially with a baguette on the side), and held up well in an insulated bag.
The problem came after we were finished eating—and I was faced with a bunch of dirty bowls and forks I had to haul home that were going to rattle around in my car and get the inside of my tote bag dirty. I realized in that moment that I had forgotten one of the key rules of packing picnics: hand-held foods are generally best.
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While I’ve always coveted those fancy picnic baskets you see in home-goods stores with clips and straps for carrying wine glasses, cute utensils, cloth napkins, and big plates, I spent the first 15 years of my adult life in NYC. After meeting friends in Central Park for dinner a few times, I quickly realized it was more important to have a bag you could comfortably carry on subways and walk across town with than an aesthetically pleasing basket with a small handle. It’s also best to make a meal that leaves as few leftovers and dirty dishes as possible, so you don’t have overheated food sitting next to you on the subway home.
As a result, my favorite picnic foods are all things you can eat with your hands. When prepping for a picnic, I’ll often take the time to make sandwiches on baguettes and wrap them up in parchment paper, cut up some crudites and make a good dip (in a resealable jar), and prep other kinds of finger foods that travel well. That way, when the food is done, I don’t have lots of dirty dishes.
So, this week, I revisited my big bean salad with tuna and played around with it until I found a more picnic-friendly way to eat it: as endive boats. Yes, it takes a bit more time to assemble, but it’s just as delicious and a lot easier to serve (plus, it’s very pretty!)
You can prep everything ahead of time, without the dressing (which goes in a sealable jar—the key to taking anything to and from a picnic is to be able to close it back up again once it’s done) and nestle all the endive spears closely together in a container for transport making sure to keep it flat in the bottom of your bag. Or, if you are serving a crowd and want to set out a pretty board/platter, you can mix all the filling ingredients together (again, resealable container), then fill the endive boats with a spoon as you’re setting out the food. Either way, you’ll have a fun, sophisticated finger food that is basically a salad full of flavor and protein. Win-win.
Bean & Tuna Salad Endive Boats
This recipe is written without any specific amounts because it’s very simple and highly flexible. Balance the ingredients to suit your tastes, and make as much or as little as you need.
Endive heads
Mix of soft and crunchy lettuces, such as butter lettuce, radicchio
Blanched green beans*
Capers or kalamata olives
Red wine vinegar
Dijon mustard
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Fresh herbs (including flowering herbs, if you like)
White beans, drained
Good-quality tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked
Remove the large and medium leaves from the endives and set them aside to turn into boats; thinly slice the inner leaves (and the solid parts of the stem found inside the head). Thinly slice the other lettuces, and mix them with the sliced endive in a bowl.
Cut the green beans at an angle into long, thin slices. Slice or mince up the capers or olives.
Make a 1:1:2 ratio dressing with the vinegar, mustard, and olive oil in a jar—1 part vinegar and one part mustard to two parts olive oil. Close the jar and shake the dressing well.
Lightly dress the lettuces and pile a little bit into each endive leaf followed by a few slices of green bean. Add a little spoonful of beans (around 4, if using cannellinis) and a few flakes of tuna and top them with some of the minced caper or olive. Use a spoon to drizzle everything with a bit more dressing. Thinly slice the herbs (or cut as you like) and garnish each endive boat.
*For efficiency’s sake, I like to cook a handful of green beans in a small pot while prepping the other ingredients
More Picnic-Ready Salads I’m Obsessed With
If there’s anything I get more excited about than snacks, it’s salads. I’m known to plan our bigger dinner night around them, roasting chicken or cooking beans mostly so that I have leftovers to add to my salads later in the week. (I do a Zuni-ish chicken salad full of enormous croutons and shmaltzy dressing regularly!) So it’s very exciting when summer rolls around and everyone starts sharing their favorite salad recipes. This past week,
got into the portable salads mood by re-upping a recipe for cauliflower salad wraps and did a smokey broccoli spoon salad that would be great piled into lettuce cups. also shared a great method of asparagus with kumquat and herb salsa that would be excellent for picnics (asparagus is, after all, traditionally a finger food). And did a deep dive into salad tools and tips—plus lots of recipes—for the first post of her “salad month” series. Can’t wait to try all of them!Photo: Georgia Freedman
love the nasturtiums!
Looks beautiful! Small pita breads or pliable tortillas, which I generally have on hand, would work too.