Tuna and Pasta Salad with Tarragon and Lemon Dressing

If you want a light meal in a hurry, then this will take you barely fifteen minutes from start to finish. If you're extra hungry, I suggest you use 2 oz (50 g) of pasta.

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Method

First cook the macaroni in plenty of salted boiling water to which a few drops of oil have been added (if it is wholewheat, it will need 10 minutes after coming to the boil, otherwise 8 minutes). After that, drain it in a colander, then sluice it under a cold running tap to cool it quickly – or else it will go sticky. While the pasta's cooking, you can make up the dressing. Using a pestle and mortar, pound the garlic, tarragon and salt to a paste, and after that add the mustard powder and some freshly milled pepper, followed by the lemon juice. Mix again quite thoroughly, then add the olive oil and tuna oil (which can be drained into a spoon straight from the tin). Lastly add the lemon zest and give everything another good mix. Now flake the tuna fish into a salad bowl. Then place a double sheet of absorbent kitchen paper on a flat surface and tip the cooled pasta on to it. Dry it a bit to get rid of any excess moisture before adding it to the tuna. Then add the onion rings to the salad, and pour the dressing all over. Toss all the ingredients well together, and serve the salad on a bed of lettuce leaves with the parsley sprinkled over.