And For Her Next Death Defying Act...

...Brianne will try tuna for the first time EVER in her life. EVER. I did it, and I survived. The things I do for food and Giada. Today marked the first day of my venture into Everyday Italian. Before I go into that, I should probably mention my detailed plan of attack for this book. I am not going front to back, recipe by recipe, instead, I'm starting with the first recipe in the first chapter, then going to the first recipe in the second chapter, and so on. This way I won't be "stuck" in one certain food group for a long period of time and will have a nice mix of foods.

The first chapter is titled "Everyday Antipasti" and the first section of it is "From the Pantry." It includes recipes with ingredients that are pretty common in any pantry. The first recipe is "White Bean and Tuna Salad." I won't lie, when I first saw this, I was not at all excited. Ever since I was a little kid, I've never been one to hide my disdain for certain smells whether it be cigarettes, anise...or tuna. The smell of that being mixed with mayonnaise makes my stomach turn and believe me, I let the world know about it. So when I saw that tuna was the first ingredient in my first recipe, I was not happy. However, this project is not only about cooking new foods and having new experiences, it's about trying new foods.

The recipe is very basic. You start with two cans of dark meat tuna packed in olive oil. Being the college student that I am with limited resources, I used tuna packed in water, then added some olive oil to it. Just cracking open that can of tuna brought back so many memories of someone in the house making tuna sandwiches that I really didn't think I was going to make it. It was a true test of my perseverance.

You season the tuna with salt and pepper and break it into bite size pieces. I was OK at this point and dealing well with the whole tuna situation. I was even starting to think that this wouldn't be so bad. Next, you add two cans of cannellini beans. I absolutely love beans, so I figured worst case scenario, I eat around the tuna and go for the beans. You also add a medium red onion, thinly sliced. After mixing all of this, you add six tablespoons of red wine vinegar.

Aside from the whole tuna smell, the only difficulty I had with this recipe was getting the can of beans open. It was quite stubborn. After completing the recipe, I just sort of stood there staring at this creation wondering what it could possibly taste like, and why on Earth it's considered Italian. Then, I took the plunge, and took a bite.

The tuna wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I definitely would not opt for it over other choices of fish, but my disdain for it has decreased slightly. The beans with the red onion is a nice combination and the red wine vinegar gives it a nice kick. I'm really just not digging the tuna. As I've been sitting here typing this up, I've been taking little bites here and there, but this really isn't my favorite thing. In fact, now the tuna is starting to make me gag a bit. I really don't think I can finish it. Actually, I'm NOT going to finish it. Hey, at least I tried it. And at least now my roommates have something to eat if they're into this sort of thing.

Anyhow, the next chapter is "Everyday Sauces" and the first is Marinara sauce!! I will be making that on Friday and probably putting it over some nice angel hair pasta. I am definitely looking forward to that one :) In the mean time, I'm going to dispose of this plate of tuna creation, and put the rest in a container for someone else.