Pasta Salad Nicoise

Make Ahead Tip: If not serving immediately, toss the cooled pasta with 1 teaspoon oil. Refrigerate the pasta and the tuna mixture separately for up to 1 day.

Tips: Chunk light tuna, which comes from the smaller skipjack or yellowfin, has less mercury than canned white albacore tuna. FDA/EPA advice recommends no more than 6 ounces of albacore a week; up to 12 ounces canned light tuna is considered safe.

Harissa, a fiery North African chile paste, is available at specialty-food stores or at amazon.com. Harissa in a tube will be much hotter than that in a jar. You can use Chinese or Thai chile-garlic sauce instead.