Tuna Pasta Salad with Lemon and Garlic Aioli

This is perfect for packed lunches or a picnic.

You don’t have to be stuck with sandwiches to take to work or school – make up a big batch of pasta salad instead. Cold pasta salad can be really tasty and quite light if you use the right ingredients – forget the heavy sauces that you might like on your pasta at dinner time and go for lighter dressings that you would normally use on lettuce and other green salad.

I love this recipe because you have the great flavour of the tuna combined with the zingy freshness of the raw red onion, green capsicum (bell pepper) and sweetcorn. The little bit of mayo-based dressing brings everything together.

This is best if you cook the pasta, toss in a little bit of oil, and then allow it to cool in the fridge before adding the rest of the ingredients. The finished salad will keep for a few days in airtight container in the fridge.

Ingredients – makes 6 lunches:

• 1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice (from a bottle is fine)
• approx 300g/10.5 oz dried pasta in your favourite shape
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 425g/15 oz can tuna in springwater, drained and flaked with a fork
• 1/4 small red onion, finely diced
• 1/2 green capsicum (bell pepper), finely diced
• 200g/7 oz sweetcorn kernels
• freshly ground black pepper, to season

Method:

• Place the mayonnaise, garlic and lemon juice in small bowl and whisk with a fork to combine. Cover in cling wrap and refrigerate until required.
• Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente. The cooking time will depend on what shape you use – check the packet for directions.
• Drain the pasta and then add the olive oil and toss to coat. This will help stop the pasta from sticking together when it cools. Transfer to a large plastic food container and refrigerate until cold.
• Once the pasta is cold, add the tuna, red onion, green capsicum, sweetcorn, mayonnaise mixture and a good seasoning of black pepper. Gently toss to distribute the tuna etc throughout the pasta.
• Serve and enjoy!