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Tuna and Barley Salad with Shaved Fennel and Lemon Tahini

Chewy barley and chickpeas tossed with paper-thin fennel, dill, and scallion, flaked tuna folded through, and a loose lemon tahini poured over with toasted sesame seeds.

By Camille McLaughlin, RDN, LD, registered dietitian nutritionist

Built forAnti-InflammatoryLunch
Also fits High-Fiber High-Protein Low-Added-Sugar
Sesame seeds go pale gold in a dry pan and start popping, which is the smell this whole bowl runs on. Fennel shaved thin enough to see through turns sweet and anise-scented once the lemon hits it, barley stays chewy underneath, and a loose tahini dressing coats every grain without ever going heavy.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe

I keep barley cooked in the refrigerator for exactly this kind of lunch. It has a chew that no other grain quite matches, faintly nutty, a little slippery, and it holds a dressing rather than soaking it up and going stodgy. Against that I want something sharp and thin, which is where the fennel comes in. Shaved on a mandoline until the slices are almost translucent, it loses its aggressive licorice edge within a few minutes in lemon juice and turns sweet and crisp instead, the way good celery does.

The dressing is the part worth learning by heart. Tahini, lemon juice, grated garlic, and cold water, whisked in that order, which matters. Tahini and acid seize into a paste that looks broken and hopeless before the water goes in, then loosen all at once into something pale, glossy, and pourable. Made this way it clings to every barley grain instead of sliding to the bottom of the bowl. I make double and keep the extra in a jar, since it is good on almost any grain, bean, or roasted vegetable I might make that week.

Three cans of tuna is what makes this lunch rather than a side salad, and I flake them in big pieces so you get whole forkfuls of fish rather than a uniform mash. Dill and fennel fronds go in by the handful because tuna wants that much green around it. This is my desk lunch through the summer, packed in a jar with the dressing separate, and it is one of the few grain salads I like better on day two than day one, when the fennel has softened and everything has settled together.

A wide bowl of pearly barley and chickpeas shot through with pale green shavings of fennel and feathery dill, flakes of tuna sitting on top. Save
Prep: 18 minsCook: 8 minsTotal: 26 minsMakes: 4 servingsServing: about 2 cups

Ingredients

Serves4Amounts change with the number. The nutrition panel is per serving, so it stays the same.
  • 4 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 2 1/2 cups cooked pearl barley, from about 3/4 cup dry
  • 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed, about 1 1/2 cups
  • 1 large fennel bulb (about 14 oz), halved, cored, and shaved paper-thin, fronds saved
  • 3 cans (5 oz each) chunk light tuna in water, drained and flaked in large pieces
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
  • 3/4 cup chopped dill, plus the reserved fennel fronds
  • 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 6 tbsp well-stirred tahini
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp lemon juice, from 2 lemons, plus the zest of one
  • 3 garlic cloves, grated on a microplane
  • 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Toast the sesame seeds: Put the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat and shake the pan every twenty seconds or so. In three to four minutes they will turn the color of straw, start to pop and skitter, and smell distinctly nutty. Tip them straight onto a cold plate, because they keep browning in a hot pan and go bitter fast.
  2. Shave the fennel: Cut the fennel bulb in half through the root, cut out the solid core, and shave the halves crosswise as thinly as you can, ideally on a mandoline. Drop the shavings into a bowl with half the lemon juice and toss. They will go from squeaky and sharp to sweet and pliable while you do everything else.
  3. Whisk the tahini dressing: In a small bowl, whisk the tahini with the remaining lemon juice, the zest, and the grated garlic. It will tighten into a stiff paste that looks wrong. Add cold water a tablespoon at a time, whisking hard after each one, until it turns pale and pourable, roughly the thickness of heavy cream. Four to six tablespoons of water usually does it. Whisk in the olive oil and black pepper last.
  4. Warm the barley and chickpeas: Tip the barley and drained chickpeas into the sesame skillet over medium heat and stir for two to three minutes, just until they lose their refrigerator chill and pick up whatever sesame oil is left in the pan. This is not about heating them through so much as waking them up, and warm grain takes a dressing far better than cold grain does.
  5. Toss and top: Combine the warm barley and chickpeas with the lemony fennel and its juice, the scallions, dill, fennel fronds, and parsley, and toss well. Pour over most of the tahini dressing and fold until every grain is coated. Add the flaked tuna last and turn it through gently, twice, so the pieces stay large. Finish with the toasted sesame seeds and the rest of the dressing.
Nutrition Facts
4 servings per recipe
Serving sizeabout 2 cups
Calories617
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 24g30%
Saturated Fat 3g17%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 45mg15%
Sodium 533mg23%
Total Carbohydrate 60g22%
Dietary Fiber 15g53%
Total Sugars 8g
Includes 0g Added Sugars 0%
Protein 46g
Vitamin D 2.1mcg11%
Calcium 328mg25%
Iron 9.2mg51%
Potassium 1210mg26%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Values are computed from USDA FoodData Central and are estimates. Per serving (about 2 cups).

Variations

  • Pomegranate and mint: Scatter a handful of pomegranate seeds and a half cup of chopped mint over the finished bowl for a sweeter, sharper version.
  • Charred fennel: Griddle half the fennel in wedges until dark at the edges and leave the other half shaved, so the bowl has both smoke and crunch.
  • Chile and preserved lemon: Add a pinch of cayenne to the dressing and a tablespoon of chopped preserved lemon rind to the grain for a sharper, saltier bowl.
  • White bean: Swap the chickpeas for cannellini beans, which go creamier against the barley and soften the whole texture.

Storage & Leftovers

This keeps four days in a sealed container in the refrigerator and improves overnight. The barley firms slightly, the fennel gives up its crunch in exchange for sweetness, and the dressing works its way into everything. Of all the grain salads I make, this is the one I deliberately make a day early.

For packed lunches, keep the dressing in a separate small jar and the sesame seeds in a twist of paper. Both take five seconds to add and both are better applied at the last minute, the dressing because it thickens in the cold and the seeds because they soften once they sit in anything wet.

It does not freeze well. Barley turns mealy and the tahini splits on thawing. The dressing on its own, however, keeps a week in a jar in the refrigerator, thickening as it sits, and comes right back with a splash of water and a hard whisk.

Notes & Tips

A few notes from my kitchen, mostly about the tahini and about slicing the fennel thin enough.
  • Cold water, not hot oil: Tahini loosens with water, not with more fat. Adding oil to a seized dressing makes it greasy and still stiff. Water is what turns it pourable.
  • Core the fennel: The solid wedge of core at the base stays woody no matter how thin you slice it. Cut it out and shave only the tender layers above it.
  • Toast the seeds first: Doing the sesame before anything else means the skillet is already warm and lightly oiled when the barley goes in, and it saves washing a pan.
  • Flake the tuna last: Folded in early it breaks down to a paste under the weight of the grain. Two gentle turns at the end keeps recognizable pieces of fish.
  • Use the fronds: The feathery tops of the fennel bulb taste like a cross between dill and the bulb itself. Chopping them in doubles the herb without buying anything.

Nutrition & Mindful Eating

A chewy, sesame-heavy grain salad that stays sharp and crisp, built on barley, flaked tuna, and fennel sliced thin enough to bend.
  • Tuna, barley, chickpeas, and tahini split the work here. The fish carries the protein, the barley and chickpeas bring the chew and the fiber, and the tahini turns a bowl of separate cold things into one dressed dish that tastes of sesame all the way through.
  • Canned tuna is one of the most useful things on a shelf, close-grained and firm enough to flake into real pieces, with a lot of protein behind a very short ingredient list. Folded in at the end it keeps its texture rather than shredding into the grain.
  • Tahini is nothing but ground sesame, which is where its calcium and its iron come from, and it is the reason this dressing coats so well. Toasted sesame seeds on top repeat the same flavor in a crunchier register and add a little more of both.
  • Barley cooks up chewy and slightly slippery, and its beta-glucan is the soluble fiber that gives this bowl its staying power. Chickpeas add to that fiber and bring their own iron, which the lemon juice all over this salad helps you take up.
  • Fennel shaved paper-thin and left in lemon juice for ten minutes turns sweet, crisp, and gently anise-scented, and dill and scallion keep it company. A lunch built on this much grain and fish holds you through a long afternoon, with the tuna and the chickpeas doing most of that work.
  • As you eat, notice the fennel giving way against the chew of the barley and the smell of toasted sesame that comes up with every forkful, and let the bowl take longer than you planned.

Frequently Asked Questions

My tahini dressing seized into cement. Did I ruin it?

Not at all, and it happens to everybody the first time. Tahini and acid always thicken before they loosen. Keep whisking and keep adding cold water a tablespoon at a time, and somewhere around the fourth spoonful it will suddenly turn pale and smooth. Warm water works faster if you are impatient.

Can I use another grain?

Yes. Farro is the closest match for chew, and bulgur or quinoa both work if you want something quicker and lighter in the bowl. Whichever you choose, cook it a minute short of tender, since a grain salad wants a bit of resistance to hold up against the dressing.

What if I do not like fennel?

Shave celery hearts or kohlrabi instead, both of which give you the same thin crisp slices without the anise. If it is only the strength you object to, try it anyway with the lemon soak, because ten minutes in acid takes most of the licorice out and leaves the sweetness.

Tuna in oil or in water?

Water-packed keeps the bowl brighter and lets the sesame and tahini lead, which is how I make it. Oil-packed tuna is richer and more tender, and if you use it, drain it well and cut the olive oil in the dressing back to a teaspoon.