Tuna Salad with Egg

June arrives and with it the long days that make Portland the best city in America for three months and the worst city for the other nine. I am exaggerating. I love Portland in winter too, in my own gray, rain-soaked way. But June Portland is another thing entirely — warm, light, the sun not setting until after nine, the whole city vibrating with the energy of people who have been waiting since October for this exact weather.

I made a poke bowl this week — not traditional Hawaiian poke, but my version with sushi-grade ahi from Uwajimaya, cubed and dressed with soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and a little sriracha. Served over warm sushi rice with avocado, edamame, cucumber, and nori strips. It is the summer bowl, the meal I will make every week until October, the dish that says "it is warm and I do not want to cook anything that requires turning on the oven." The fish is cold. The rice is warm. The contrast is the point.

Miya is fourteen months old and has entered a phase I call "aggressive curiosity" — she wants to touch everything, taste everything, open every cabinet and drawer and discover what is inside. I have installed child locks on every surface. She has figured out two of them. She is smarter than the child locks. I am alarmed and impressed in equal measure.

I had a conversation with my therapist about the marriage. Not about Brian specifically — about the pattern. The distance, the separate weekends, the parallel lives. My therapist said, "What do you want?" I said, "I want to be understood." She said, "Does Brian understand you?" I was quiet for a long time. The quiet was the answer and we both knew it, but I was not ready to say it out loud, so we sat in the quiet and let it be the answer, and my therapist wrote something in her notebook and I wished I could see what she wrote, though I suspect it was something I already know.

I made dashi this evening — the real kind, from scratch, the overnight kombu soak, the careful heating. The kitchen smelled like the ocean. Miya was asleep. Brian was at a work event. The apartment was mine. I stood at the stove and watched the bonito flakes settle in the water and thought about understanding — what it looks like, what it requires, whether it is possible between two people who speak different languages in the same kitchen. I do not have the answer. I have the dashi. Tonight, the dashi is enough.

That poke bowl I made this week — cold ahi over warm rice, the contrast doing all the work — reminded me that the best summer meals are the ones that require almost nothing from you except good ingredients and a willingness to let cold things be cold. This tuna salad with egg is that same spirit in a different form: no oven, no fuss, just something bright and honest you can pull together on a long June evening when the light is still pouring through the kitchen windows at eight o’clock and the apartment, for a moment, is entirely yours.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 22 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cans (5 oz each) solid white albacore tuna in water, drained
3 large eggs, hard-boiled and roughly chopped
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 tablespoons red onion, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Optional for serving: butter lettuce, sliced cucumber, crackers, or toasted bread

Instructions

Hard-boil the eggs. Place eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 10 to 11 minutes. Transfer eggs to an ice bath for 5 minutes, then peel and roughly chop.
Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
Combine. Add the drained tuna to the bowl and break it up gently with a fork. Fold in the chopped eggs, celery, red onion, and parsley. Stir until everything is evenly coated. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, or lemon juice as needed.
Chill (optional). For best flavor, cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving to let the ingredients come together.
Serve. Spoon over butter lettuce cups, alongside sliced cucumber and crackers, or on toasted sourdough. Works equally well as a cold bowl over greens or grains.

Nutrition (per serving)

Tuna Salad with Egg — The Cold Bowl for a Warm June