On a hot summer's day, the last thing you want to do is slave away in a hot kitchen - simple and refreshing food is the best. Today's recipe is for a Spanish salad which is called Pipirrana, and it's very refreshing during the peak of summer. There are regional differences throughout Spain, and this is the Andalusian variant.
The salad is made with the same core ingredients as the chilled Spanish soup Gazpacho -- another refreshing Spanish dish perfect for hot days -- tomato, cucumber, onion, and capsicum/bell pepper.
The salad can be a complete meal when served with some hard boiled eggs and tuna, as is traditional. Alternatively, you can leave out the eggs and tuna and serve the salad alongside a grilled protein, as I do with my Spanish grilled chicken or Spanish pork skewers, known as "Pinchos Morunos".
After some more Spanish recipes? Try my Spanish omelette or poor mans potatoes.
Pipirrana ingredients
- Tomatoes - the fresher, the better. During winter, you can get good results by substituting cherry tomatoes and halving them.
- Cucumber - use a Lebanese/Persian cucumber, or around half an English cucumber. If your cucumber is bitter, you might like to remove the seeds.
- Green capsicum/bell pepper
- Onion - in Spain, a white onion is traditional, but you can use a red onion if you can't get a white onion.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Garlic is optional but often added. I'm not a fan of garlic in my salad, but add a minced clove if you'd like.
To bulk the salad out and enjoy it as a meal - you can leave these out if you're having the salad alongside some protein:
- Eggs - allow a hardboiled egg per person. Boil for 9-10 minutes for the best result.
- Olives - black or green work best for Spanish food and are traditionally what are eaten in Spain.
- Tuna - use a quality canned or jarred tuna. Yellowfin is the highest quality canned tuna you can get.
The dressing is made from:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sherry vinegar - this is the traditional vinegar, substitute with red or white wine vinegar.
Step-by-step guide to making Spanish pipirrana salad
Combine the tomatoes, capsicum, onion, and cucumber, and olives in a salad bowl.
Add oil and vinegar to the bowl, along with the garlic (if using), and stir well.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serve the salad topped with the halved hard boiled eggs and tuna.
Tips
Tomatoes are the core of this salad - use quality, ripe tomatoes. If they're not at their best, use cherry tomatoes for a sweeter flavour.
While optional, peeling the tomatoes improves the taste and texture - and it's easy to do.
Use high quality tuna in olive oil - yellowfin or skipkack are good choices.
Use Spanish olives where possible for authenticity.
Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste, but start with a small amount and taste as you go.
Allow the salad to stand for 10 minutes or so before serving to allow the flavours time to develop.
I'm not a fan of garlic in salad, but it's quite commonly added in Spain. Feel free to add it if you'd like.
What to serve with pipirrana
The salad can be eaten on it's own as a light meal when served with the tuna and eggs. Alternatively, you can serve it as a side salad (with or without the tuna & eggs) alongside your grilled protein of choice, for example:
- Spanish spiced grilled chicken
- Pinchos morunos, which are a Spanish grilled pork skewer
You can also enjoy as part of a tapas spread with some of my other Spanish recipes:
Peeling tomatoes
Traditionally the tomatoes are peeled - it improves the texture or the salad and removes the bitter skin. You can skip this step if you'd like.
Here's how you do it.
Score the tomatoes - use a sharp paring knife to make a small X-shaped incision on the bottom (opposite the stem) of each tomato.
Prepare an ice water bath by adding ice to a large bowl of water.
Blanch the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for 10 seconds. Use a slotted spoon or spider to remove to the ice water bath.
Remove skin - when the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, start peeling from where the tomato was scored (1) - the skin should easily peel away from the flesh (2).
Make ahead, reheating and freezing pipirrana
The salad can be made a day or so ahead of time and stored in the fridge - don't dress the salad, peel the eggs, or open the tuna until serving.
Spanish salad "Pipirrana"
| Prep | Cook | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 10 mins | 10 mins | 20 mins |
- 4 ripe tomatoes, diced preferably peeled, see note 1 & 2
- 1 green capsicum/bell pepper, diced
- 1 small onion, finely diced preferably white, substitute for red onion or scallions
- 1 Lebanese/Persian cucumber, diced substitute for 1/2 an English cucumber
- 75g (1/2 cup, 2.65oz) green or black olives pitted
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar sub with red or white wine vinegar
- 1 garlic clove, minced optional, see note 3
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 185g (6.5oz) can or jar of tuna in olive oil, drained use the best quality you can afford, ideally yellowfin, see note 4
- 2 hard boiled eggs, halved boil for 9 minutes and chill before peeling
- Combine the tomatoes, capsicum, onion, and cucumber, and olives in a salad bowl.
- Add oil and vinegar to the bowl, along with the garlic (if using), and stir well.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve the salad topped with the halved hard boiled eggs and tuna.
- Tomato - feel free to skip peeling the tomatoes, but traditionally they would be peeled. Peeling the tomatoes improves the texture and removes the bitter skin. Score the tomatoes with a small X-shaped incision on the bottom (opposite the stem). Prepare an ice water bath by adding ice to a large bowl of water. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for about 10 seconds, then use a slotted spoon to remove them to the ice water bath. Once cool enough to handle, peel the skin starting from the scored area.
- Cherry tomatoes - substitute regular tomatoes for cherry tomatoes if tomatoes are out of season and not good eating. Use around 400g (14oz) of cherry tomatoes and halve or quarter them. There's no need to peel cherry tomatoes.
- Garlic - I'm not a fan of garlic in salad so I don't typically add it. It's traditionally included so I've noted it here - do what makes you happy 🙂
- Tuna - there is a big difference between tuna varieties and brands. Look for a quality yellow fin tuna in oil for the best results.
