{"id":88692,"date":"2026-02-19T08:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=88692"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:59:11","slug":"beyond-the-tuna-fish-sandwich-adopt-a-healthy-habit-from-spain-and-portugal-and-enjoy-quick-and-nutritious-canned-fish-recipes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/beyond-the-tuna-fish-sandwich-adopt-a-healthy-habit-from-spain-and-portugal-and-enjoy-quick-and-nutritious-canned-fish-recipes\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the tuna fish sandwich: Adopt a healthy habit from Spain and Portugal, and enjoy quick and nutritious canned fish recipes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tinned fish and seafood offer simple ways to build quick meals, snacks or brunch dishes inspired by global traditions. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Travel, wrote Francis Bacon, the 16th-century essayist, is a form of education. \u201cThey who travel into a country, before some entrance into the language, go to school,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

If you eat around Spain and Portugal on a trip to Europe, you and your kitchen will learn much more about eating tinned fish than its generally singular place for us Americans in the tuna salad sandwich.<\/p>\n

\u201cConservas,\u201d as both the Spanish and Portuguese languages call them, are tinned fish recipes that appear on so many tables and in so many ways \u2014 as lunchtime centerpieces<\/a>, on evening nibble platters, even in breakfast egg preparations.<\/p>\n

So, in a manner, travel to the Iberian Peninsula, even though you may not breach our own shores, by opening a tin and enjoying the enormous variety of tinned fish available stateside.<\/p>\n

The season of Lent is upon us, with its emphasis on free-standing fish dishes come mealtime. Alone, a tin of fish and some accompaniments fulfill that. But here are several more suggestions for Lenten (and post-Lenten) dining that utilize tinned fish and seafood.<\/p>\n

Tinned fish and seafood offer easy, healthy meals<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here are a handful of simple ideas for turning a single tin of fish into an easy meal, snack or brunch dish.<\/p>\n

Tuna on corn tortillas with mustard and cornichons<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Peel open a tin of tuna preserved in olive oil and use chunks of it to top envelope-sized corn tortillas, dabbed with a soup\u00e7on of grainy mustard and a tart cornichon.<\/p>\n

Smoked trout or clams stirred into cottage cheese sandwiches<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mix a tin of smoked trout, brined cockles, or clams into cottage cheese, and use the mixture as the inner layer of a sandwich, using slices of hearty, springy-crumbed rye or levain bread, lightly toasted.<\/p>\n

Messels in escabeche tossed with pasta<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Spanish and Portuguese tinned mussels are commonly preserved in the tangy, vinegary sauce called escabeche. Drain a tin (but not completely) and toss such mussels as the Iberians do, with pasta, minced garlic, lemon zest, and finely chopped mint or basil.<\/p>\n

Anchovy toasts with orange marmalade<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The Spanish make of tinned anchovies preserved in olive oil a sort of open-faced sandwich: thin-sliced dark bread topped with one anchovy and a dab of marmalade (made of Seville orange, of course), the sweet-tart jam offsetting the pungent, salty fish.<\/div>\n

Lightly charred tinned squid for salads or risotto<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If it\u2019s late spring or summer and your grill is a-going<\/a>, place some tinned squid on the grate, char it lightly on all sides, then add it to an already-made rice salad or even a risotto based in fish stock and short-grained rice (use the paella rice grain called Bomba), with ample gratings of sharp Spanish cheese such as Manchego curado.<\/p>\n

Vegetables in escabeche with full-flavored tinned fish<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For brunch, try vegetables (cabbage ribbons, carrot fingers, cubed potatoes, sweet red or yellow pepper strips, onion slices, mushroom caps) in vinegary escabeche, full-flavored tinned fish (mackerel, for example), lightly toasted and buttered semolina bread.<\/p>\n

Potato salad with preserved octopus<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Make a potato salad using waxy spuds such as Yukon Gold (dressed in lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, crushed herbes de Provence, slivers of fresh garlic), then add a drained tin of preserved octopus pieces (cut up if large). Toss and let sit for half an hour to marry the flavors. Serve cool or at room temperature.<\/p>\n

Variations on tuna in olive oil for Ni\u00e7oise-style salads<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Vary the tinned tuna (always use tuna preserved in olive oil, never water) on a salade Ni\u00e7oise by using canned salmon or tinned smoked trout. Or shell out for the best possible tinned tuna, such as that labeled \u201cbonito del Norte\u201d from Spain.<\/p>\n

Feta ‘hummus’ topped with tinned fish and peppers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the bowl of a food processor, make a very smooth-textured \u201chummus\u201d from a 6-ounce block of feta cheese and 1 tablespoon of fruity extra-virgin olive oil. Scrape that onto a plate and top with any tinned fish of your choice (drained, if necessary), strips of pimiento pepper (or other pickled or preserved sweet pepper), chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves and a sprinkle of Urfa or Aleppo dried pepper flakes. To the side: the best crackers or flatbread.<\/p>\n

Why tinned fish is a smart, sustainable choice<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One very nice side benefit of using tinned fish is that it often features underfished rather than overfished seafood. It is unfortunate that the most common over-fished fish, tuna, is also the most commonly available tinned fish in America. If buying tinned tuna, try to obtain it from pole-and-line rather than longline tuna fishers. Examine the tin\u2019s label for the words \u201cpole and [or &] line.\u201d

Get more\u00a0great tips and recipes<\/a>\u00a0from Bill St. John.<\/div>\n

Also, because tinned fish is available year-round, outside the seasonal fishing times of either hemisphere, buying and eating tinned fish rather than fresh-caught fish allows fish stocks to recover in their native oceans or seas.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve made the recipe here for Tinned Tuna Sauce to serve atop any manner of sliced prepared or previously cooked then chilled meat: cold cuts, roasted pork loin, chicken tenders or piccata paillards, white meat schnitzel, even more fish itself such as cooled grilled swordfish or salmon filet.<\/p>\n

It is the sauce for the famed Italian preparation of cool veal called Vitello Tonnato, even if few of us any longer cook veal. A legion of substitutes for the baby beef awaits.<\/p>\n

Tinned Tuna Sauce recipe: A versatile recipe for Lent and beyond<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Makes about 1 1\/2 cups.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/h3>\n