Mr Rathbone’s sister recently told me that when her mum was pregnant with her, she craved Mivvis.

I am going to ask my mum if she had any particular food cravings when she was pregnant with me. It will not surprise me at all if she says tuna. Whenever I stop plotting and planning ways of using up stuff that is cluttering up my fridge, and just let my body tell me what it wants, it is almost always tuna.

So it was last night. I got a mad craving for tuna and once I let my mind go down the “chicken of the sea” route I started thinking about Diana’s salad. When I was in panic buying mode at the beginning of lockdown I filled my sideboard with many kinds of tinned goods, so I grabbed my last can of tuna and the tin of beans nearest the front and got amongst it. So this is Black Eyed Beans with Tuna rather than Flageolet Beans With Tuna but I don’t think Diana would mind.

This is such an easy thing to rustle up and as it it hot, hot, hot in London it was the perfect quick dinner before a zoom catch-up with the much beloved Corinna and Vic. We are all in agreement that despite lockdown restrictions beginning to ease here, we are not ready to reintroduce ourselves into society just yet. We are becoming hermits.

Still, with a few Isle of Wight cherry tomatoes from Ocado, some lettuce from the corner shop and some Angela Lansbury Vinaigrette this salad FORTIFIED me so who knows?

Diana Dors’ Flageolet Beans With Tuna

Finely grated rind of 1/4 lemon

3 tablespoons Slimmer’s Oil-free French Dressing

1 teaspoon snipped chives

75g cooked flageolet beans

25g cooked red kidney beans

50g canned tuna in brine, drained

2 tomatoes, sliced

Beat together the lemon rind, dressing, chives and salt, and pepper to taste.  Mix the beans in a bowl and pour over the dressing mixture.  Cover and chill lightly.

Flake the tuna and add to the beans, tossing slightly to mix.

Place the tomatoes on a serving plate and top with the tuna and bean mixture.  Serve while still lightly chilled.

Serves 1

If you want to know more about Diana’s recipes and her X-cel Diet on TV-am, skip over to this super long post all about it…

Off for a swim Diana?

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