Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Starting with Ingredients: Quintessential Recipes for the Way We Really Cook by Aliza Green. To read Epicurious's review of the cookbook, go to The Best Cookbooks of 2006.
I developed this light and tasty Italian-style tuna salad for Parma, an Italian fresh-made fast-food company that had quite a successful run in Philadelphia, including Air Parma at the airport. The salad is light because the tuna is dressed with olive oil and fresh lemon juice instead of the usual mayonnaise. The fresh herbs give it brightness, and the red bell peppers and purple olives make for a colorful and appetizing preparation. The important thing here is to use the tasty tuna packed in olive oil enjoyed throughout the Mediterranean region, rather than the drier, rather mealy white tuna packed in water.
