The New Tuna Salad Sandwich

There's your typical tuna sandwich, and then there's this tuna sandwich. We're really going to blow your mind with this one. Well, I mean it's only a tuna sandwich, but just think: whole grain mustard! Curry paste! Hummus! Greek yogurt? Feta? Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. This here is a bit of a tuna sandwich revolution. Best get ready.

So, my mom never made tuna sandwiches for me when I was little. She didn't like canned foods. Or mayonnaise. I specifically remember having one or two tuna sandwiches as a kid, eaten tentatively like a foreign food while at a friend's house. I kinda liked them. Still, something about tuna is a just little funky. Tuna sandwiches sure taste good, but they'll never be cool. Tuna just smells a little too fishy to be hip.

That being said, there is still something very satisfying and delicious about a tuna sandwich. I'm not sure exactly what it is. Something brilliant happens when you get the alchemy of all the different flavors just exactly right. It is a complicated balancing act. If there's not enough of just one ingredient---not quite enough salt, or a little short on the mustard---the whole sandwich is thrown off. Usually it's close, but you can taste it---it doesn't quite taste like your Platonic ideal of a tuna sandwich (you know, like the ones you remember from your childhood.)

Like many recipes, tuna salad preparation requires constant tasting and adjusting. Wait for it.... You'll know when you've gotten it just right. Trust me.

I don't know how Mark came upon the pure, solid genius of adding feta to a tuna sandwich, but he did. Now I am reaping all the rewards. Bwah, ha ha hah. Ah ha hah ha! (Oh, and by rewards, I just mean really, really ridiculously good tasting sandwiches.) The curry is all mine, though, because I like a hint of curry in pretty much anything. Greek yogurt is just a fantastic creamy addition to anything that needs to be creamier (and low fat, too!). In fact, you could replace all of the mayo with Greek yogurt if you were so inclined. (I am, Mark's not.)

New Tuna Sandwiches

~Print Recipe~

• 4 slices of bread
• Hummus
• Lettuce 
• 2 oz. feta, crumbled*
• 2 cans of tuna in water
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion*
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery*
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise*
• 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard*
• 1 or 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt*
• 1/2 teaspoon curry paste (such as Patak's Vindaloo)*
• 1/4 teaspoon dill*
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix well tuna and all subsequent ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Lightly toast your bread and spread all four slices with hummus. Divide tuna salad evenly between two slices. Sprinkle each sandwich with feta, top with lettuce and remaining bread slices. Prepare to be blown away.

*More, or less to taste. As you can see, this is not an exact science. Do whatever tastes good to you!

Serves 2

Avocado, Bell Pepper and Caramelized Onion Tuna Melts

What happens when you try to use whatever you have in your pantry...

• 4 slices of bread
• 4 slices of cheese (we had cheddar)
• 2 cans of tuna
• Mayonnaise and mustard to taste
• 1 stock of celery, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1/4 of a white onion, sliced into long strips
• 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• Balsamic vinegar (optional)
  
• 1 avocado, in thin slices
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

1. Heat olive oil in a small saute pan to medium-low (around 4), add sliced onion and bell pepper. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir every once in awhile to make sure the mixture is cooking evenly. I added a splash of balsamic vinegar near the end. It's done when everything is soft and the onions turn a caramel color.
2. Prepare tuna salad to your preference. We used a little mayo, some Sierra Nevada Porter mustard, salt, pepper and chopped celery.
3. Heat a griddle (on about 3) and start toasting all four slices of bread. Flip the bread to toast other side and immediately add two cheese slices to two slices of the bread. Spread the tuna mixture over the other two slices. When the cheese has melted, remove both sides from the griddle.
4. Spread the onion and bell pepper mixture over the tuna. Top with sliced avocado. Add a little more mustard to the cheese side and place on top.

* These are big sandwiches! We only had regular small bread and wished we had something a little bigger to hold all of the ingredients.