Put the pasta in a large airtight container and add in the rest of the ingredients. You can skip the drying part, but if you are making the salad ahead of time I suggest that you don't - the drier the pasta, the better chance you have of keeping the salad moist overnight. As I do when cooking all pasta, I like to salt the water the pasta cooks in to flavour it - use sea salt for this, and when you taste the water it should be salty like the sea.ĭrain the cooked pasta and run it under cold water until it has cooled and then allow the pasta to air dry. Start by cooking your pasta according to package directions. Pole and line fishing catches the most sustainable species of tuna, skipjack and albacore, and does not have the same issues with bycatch as longline and drift net caught tuna. If you also are concerned about making choices with a better impact on the environment, when choosing your tuna look for the 'Pole & Line' label on the can.

Sustainability is something that we think about when making food choices. The most distinctive addition though - is the addition of pickles and pickle brine - which, in my opinion, makes this the best tuna pasta salad recipe in the world! Not that I don't still love my moms version, it's just that I'm a bit of a pickle addict (full sour kosher dills to be exact) and I will add pickles to any recipe that I think can tolerate them. Over the years, I've adapted my moms recipe to suit my adult tastes: the addition of celery, green onions instead of red, the addition of sour cream.

It wasn't just reserved for potluck meals though, there was often a container of it in the fridge for easy lunches or just to snack on. Along with bean salad, tuna pasta salad was a side dish staple at every family BBQ and get together. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume we are all familiar with the summertime classic tuna macaroni salad.

Old fashioned macaroni salad with tuna