As weather cools, my thoughts turn to more comfort food:
Solid White tuna in water - drained, squozen and flaked with fork
Red onion or shallots - finely chopped
Celery - finely chopped, including the celery leaves near the center of the bunch
Jalapeno - one small, seeded, very finely chopped
Fresh Parsley or Cilantro - finely chopped
Mayo - go easy, just enough to moisten and bring it all together
Pepper - generous amount of freshly ground
Lightly toast some bread (I like rosemary olive oil bread, pita is good too).
Load on the tuna.
Cover with sliced or grated cheese (cheddar or provolone or swiss or…)
Into the oven until the cheese is bubbling and turning brown.
Let cool for as long as you can stand to wait.
Pile on the arugula and eat with kosher style dills on the side.
I use a much simpler recipe: tuna, mayo, relish, celery, salt and pepper (I also like lots of pepper).
For cheese, I tend to prefer jack or mozzarella, but a mild cheddar works too. Swiss and provolone have that sort of funky flavor that I don’t think goes with tuna. Part of the secret with the cheese is to be sloppy in putting it on - little bits of crispy fried cheese around the edges are part of the appeal.
For bread, my ideal is an onion hamburger bun. Rye is also good. Really, anything that doesn’t get soggy will be fine.
Like dracoi, my tuna is much simpler. I used to ‘doctor’ it up, and liked it that way; but now I like it with fewer ingredients: Chunk light tuna in oil, mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, celery seeds. A dash of tarragon is nice sometimes, too.
I use the chunk light tuna in oil because I feel it has a stronger flavour that chunk white or solid white, especially the water-packed kind. For making a tuna melt, I use American cheese (not ‘cheese product’).
One thing I used to do years ago was to add a dollop of Dijon mustard to the tuna salad.
Mix up the tuna, mayo, some seasonings depending on what strikes my fancy. Heat a skillet, preferably cast iron. Butter two slices of the bread of your choice. Butter side down in the hot skillet. After a minute or two, add tuna to one, some muenster on top, put the other slice of bread on, flip for 30 seconds or so to get a nice melt to the cheese.
[ul]
[li]Solid White Tuna[/li][li]Chopped Red Onion[/li][li]Chopped Dill Pickle (lightly pickled, so still crispy)[/li][li]Olive Oil[/li][li]Balsamic Vinegar[/li][li]Oregano[/li][li]Crushed Red Pepper[/li][li]Salt/Pepper[/li][/ul]
…with sharp cheddar and typically on ciabatta rolls. And like Johnny L.A. (or like he used to, I guess), we enjoy a little Dijon in it. Though generally spread on the ciabatta rather than mixed in.
The more basic mayo-based versions are great, too, though, if light on the mayo. My mom used to do tuna/mayo topped with tomato slice and American cheese, open-faced on English muffin halves when I was a kid. Good stuff.
There you go. When I think of melts, I think of a grilled sandwich.
I don’t buy much canned fish, but any tuna salad I’m willing to eat better not have sweet pickle relish on it. I hate that sweet note in just about anything.
Hey, different strokes and all that. My wife loves it on a hot dog, so we keep it around the house.
The people in charge of the deviled eggs at our tailgate always add sweet relish, so I never touch them. Even worse is when it ends up in potato salad. It’s one of very few ingredients that I really feel strongly about.
It’s funny, I’m not a seafood person because of the “fishy” taste, so I thought I would prefer chunk or solid white. But I missed the “tunaness” and realized I needed it to be fishy since that’s what I grew up on! I do get it packed in water though, as some kind of nod to being a tiny bit more healthy.
When I do it, the bagel is lightly browned in the toaster first, because I slice and freeze 'em when I get 'em (usually because it’s buy six, get six free, and I wouldn’t be able to eat them all in time).
My late mother used to make hers with Kraft slices, canned tuna, heavy mayo and white bread. Then she would let it sit in the sun on the beach, not entirely protected so that sand would get in the plastic wrapping and on the tun. I think of her version as the most disgusting sandwich of all time.
Chunk light tuna, Miracle Whip (yeah, I know…), maybe chopped celery if we have some otherwise celery salt, pepper, a bit of sugar. Mix and spread on slice of white or wheat sandwich bread that’s on a shallow baking sheet. Top with a slice or two of tomato and cover with American cheese. Broil until cheese melts, then add the top slice of bread. Broil/toast until brown. Flip over and toast until the other side is brown. Slice and eat.
When I do it, the bagel is lightly browned in the toaster first, because I slice and freeze 'em when I get 'em (usually because it’s buy six, get six free, and I wouldn’t be able to eat them all in time).