Sixth Blog Post

When I was growing up and we were running low on groceries, my mom would have to get creative. We often had tuna melts.

Let’s look back to my childhood. It was a time when my Mom stayed home with the kids and my Dad went to work.  Some families had more, some had less. Nobody seemed to care much.

We can have a little segway here about the olden days here and patriarchal systems that I lived in but…I am here to talk tuna. Canned tuna. Let’s get back to the story!

I loved tuna melts. They consisted of drained tuna, mayo and a slice of processed cheese all piled on top of a hamburger bun. They were put under the broiler until the cheese “melted”. As I got older and more adventurous, tuna melts went gourmet. I added Dijon, chopped celery, green onions, cilantro and topped with furikake.

Tuna melts are not the only thing you can do with a can of tuna. Go high end and you can make a fancy salad nicoise or wrap yourself in comfort and make a tuna noodle casserole (with pickle juice, of course!).

For appetizers, bake little wonton cups and fill them with a mixture of tuna, veggies, jalapenos and cream cheese. Or top crostini’s with tuna, cropped apples and hot honey!

My friend Jane Francisco is a lover of Tuna Noodle Casserole and this is my memory of her dish:    

Ingredients

1 med onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

¼ cup dill pickle juice

2 cans tuna, preferably oil-packed, drained

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more as needed

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

8 oz dried wide egg noodles (4 to 5 cups), cooked and drained

  1 cup frozen peas

1/3 cup sour cream

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

8 buttery crackers, such as Ritz or Club (optional), crushed

Freshly ground black pepper

Chopped fresh parsley leaves (optional)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F.

2.  Sauté onion and garlic in butter until softened. Mix in flour, milk and pickle juice; whisk until smooth and thickened, about 4 minutes over medium heat.

3. Stir in tuna, thyme, salt, Dijon, cooked noodles and peas and sour cream. Turn into a greased 9 x 13 Pyrex lasagna style pan. Top with grated cheese, crushed crackers, pepper and parsley.

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese has melted and browned.

So, the next time tuna is on sale, grab a few cans and know that you can always you can show the lowly some love.