Here we go again...bringing food into an artist's blog. Well, gotta tell you, I think cooks, chefs - anyone really who delights in expressing creativity through eatables are artists too. So, this post is about the best tuna sandwich I've ever eaten and guess what? I made it myself.
There is a story about why I ended up with this sandwich. Last week I took a little trip south of my community, driving about three hours. I had business in the Bay Area [California] so did an overnight at a hotel. On day two, before heading back home, I had a bit of time so decided to visit some artwork I'd done over a year ago that is installed at a medical center. I hadn't seen the two mosaics in their home and wanted to see how they had been installed and take a few photos for my files. That done, I got on the freeway to go back north.
Lunch time rolled around while I was still driving so I pulled off into a spot that offered several restaurants. The one I chose called itself "American" food. Okay, I thought. Sounds good. The interior of the place was nice - in an okay sort of way. Since it was mid-afternoon by this time, there were few other patrons and I appreciated the quiet. I took a look through the menu, noting that it was rather pricey, but not too bad. Hm, I thought, tuna salad sandwich. I don't usually order tuna when out but for some reason this seemed like a good idea.
The presentation wasn't bad. Presentation? You know what I mean...how it's arranged on the plate, what you get with it...that sort of thing. It was a generous serving of tuna salad, I will say that. The bread roll was okay - only a tad on the dry side. But the flavor just wasn't there. All said, all done, it was a rather pedestrian tuna salad sandwich. Oh well.
Back on the road again and about an hour and a half to go before I would pull into my driveway, I began to think about that sandwich. It occurred to me that I could make a better one. My plan was to put a couple cans of tuna packed in water on my shopping list. Then as I thought more, I wondered what it would taste like to make a tuna salad sandwich using "actual" tuna. What a concept! I decided to buy some tuna steaks, cook them, cool them, flake them and make my tuna salad with that. [lot of nutrition in "real" ahi tuna!]
Two days later...voila! Here's what I used and what I did:
1. I bought a package [frozen] of ahi tuna steaks. The package I got had three small steaks in it. After thawing them thoroughly, I dried them with paper towels. Then I sprayed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with my favorite herb seasonings [just a little - you use your own favorite seasonings]. I
did this to both sides of the steaks, then wrapped them tightly in foil. I put the foil packet on a baking sheet and baked at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes. This was plenty of time to cook the steaks. When done I let them cool completely.
2. After the tuna steaks were cool I flaked them with a fork. Cool! When done looked just like when you open a can of tuna and flake the contents only this seemed meatier somehow.
3. My recipe for tasty tuna salad:
- flaked tuna
- finely chopped/diced celery
- finely chopped/diced onion
- mayo
- a sprinkle of salt, pepper and more of my favorite herb seasoning
I didn't put amounts because I think it's a personal thing. Mix in some, taste, mix some more.
When the salad part was done I made the sandwich with a soft, fresh french roll. I spread a bit of mayo on each side and loaded some shredded lettuce [I used romaine] on one side. I heaped tuna salad on the lettuce; put the second side of bread on the tuna and you're done.
The senior software engineer guy loved it! I know because he told me...and he never mentions the meal unless it especially impresses his taste buds. A winner.
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