Tuna Cobb Salad Sandwiches

This quick and scrumptious recipe is an ode to three things.  Here they are, in no particular order.

1.  Cobb Salad.  I am SUCH a sucker for Cobb Salad. It's not like it is a rarity or anything - it's actually a frequent player on a lot of menus, but there is something about the combo of blue cheese, avocado, bacon (of course), chopped egg and lettuce that sings some kind of siren song to me.  I love it, and that's all there is to it.

2. Open-faced sandwiches.  I mean, for so many things, this is just such a logical thing.  Why spend your time putting the top of your sandwich over some deliciously messy filling only to have it spill out on to your plate with the first bite?  Open-faced sandwiches, people!  It's the only sensible way to go.

3. Sandwich Night.  Is there anything happier than Sandwich Night, especially on a Monday?  You walk into the kitchen at the end of the day and suddenly you feel wonderfully free!

Okay, now that I have gotten all THAT out of my system, let's get down to it.  This is a quick and different version of cobb salad with a special guest star, and that is tuna fish.  And a surprise twist, which is that that blue cheese is not actual blue cheese (which I sometimes find can take over a cobb salad with it's super-strong taste), but blue cheese salad dressing.  Splurge and use one of the nice ones you can usually find in the refrigerated section of your supermarket - it's worth it for this recipe, and you can always use the leftover as a nice dip.  The tuna and the dressing get mixed up with the usual cast of characters from cobb salad - avocado, chopped egg and (yes!) bacon.  But instead of tossing it all together with lettuce, you lightly toast a couple of English muffins, lay on some chopped lettuce and a slice or two of tomato, and then top with the tuna mixture.

A little ground pepper, and you have a Sandwich Night to be proud of.

 Tuna Cobb Salad Sandwiches, adapted from Betty Crocker's Smart Cook : The Essential Everyday Cookbook 

• 
  
• One 6.5 ounce can tuna, drained
• 4-6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs
• 1 avocado, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1/3 cup good quality blue cheese dressing
• Shredded lettuce
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 2 English muffins, split and toasted
• Fresh ground pepper

1. Mix tuna, bacon, eggs, avocado and dressing.
2.  Place tomato and lettuce on each muffin and top with tuna mixture.  Grind some fresh pepper on top.

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Tuna Caper Dip

Few things in life are better than coming home from a loooooooong day of work at the office, cracking open a can of tuna and in 10 minutes or less having what can pass as a reasonably presentable supper.  In this case, this is the latest in our Friday Night Lights series of suppers, wherein we are using up all the delicious appetizer recipes I have collected by making them for light Friday night suppers, since there is no way I am actually going to have enough parties in my lifetime to use them all up.

So here's the deal on this one: you have to use a can of tuna packed in oil.  Yes, you do.  You drain most of the oil off, but you need the rest of it to make this delicious dip sing and dance the way you want it to.  Stir in some sour cream (use the low-fat kind to make yourself feel better about the tuna packed in oil) along with some fresh lemon juice, some chopped parsley, some capers and a couple of chopped anchovies.  Salt and pepper, and you are THERE.  We scooped it up with some endive pieces and some pita chips, and the world was just right.

And to think all this happiness started with a can of tuna!

Tuna Caper Dip, from Everyday Food

• 1 can (5 ounces) tuna packed in oil, drained
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoon capers, rinsed, drained, and chopped
• 2 anchovies, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of red-pepper flakes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

In a medium bowl, mix together tuna, sour cream, parsley, capers, anchovies, lemon juice, and red-pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper, serve with endive leaves, pita chips or whatever else catches your fancy!

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Tuna Tartare

I know that when it comes to raw fish, the world divides into two distinct camps.  There is the "I love it SO much I could eat it every day" camp.  That is the one I live in.  Then there is the "Get away from me with that raw fish" camp, and that is the one that the teenager lives in.  And while it is possible every once in a blue moon to get someone to cross from the teenager's camp to mine (I did it with the southern husband but it was before we were married and for all I know it was one of his tricky dating techniques), I'm not even gonna try.  All you anti-sushi people out there?  I love you anyway, and I will be back in a couple of days with something that is completely cooked.

In the meantime, however, we must discuss the tuna tartare recipe from the fabulous STONEWALL KITCHEN FAVORITES.  This is an amazingly quick, easy and (if you are pro-raw fish) spectacularly delicious little number.   You need to get sushi-grade tuna, which I promise is not hard...go to wherever you usually buy your fresh fish and ask.  You chop it up in tiny little pieces and mix it up with chopped tomato, scallions, some ginger and sesame oil and rice vinegar, and then scoop it out onto sliced cucumber rounds.  

It obviously makes a fabulous, dramatic appetizer, but the sushi-loving southern husband and I had it for a Friday Night Lights dinner and were deliriously happy.  Raw-fishing-eating people that we are.

Recipe below, and next post I will return you to your regularly scheduled cooked food.

Tuna Tartare, adapted from Stonewall Kitchen Favorites

8 ounces sushi-grade tuna, cut into 1.2 inch cubes

2 sliced scallions, white and green parts

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil

1 seedless cucumber, sliced diagonally into 1/4 inch thick rounds

1. Place the tuna, scallions, cilantro, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil in a medium bowl and mix gently until well-blended.

2. Arrange the cucumber slices on a large serving tray and pile a generous tablespoon of the tuna mixture on each cucumber slice.  Serve immediately.

Click here for printable recipe

Mediterranean Tuna Casserole

Okay, so this is NOT your grandmother's tuna casserole. Yes, there is tuna, and yes, there are noodles. But there are also artichoke hearts and there is also feta cheese, and there is absolutely no cream-of-anything soup. The teenager still ran screaming from the room, but the Southern husband and I loved it.

You really must use tuna packed in oil for this one. I think we have all been so brainwashed into using the packed in water variety that you now have to look hard for the packed in oil kind, but it really does make a big difference. (It's also great in this recipe for tuna salad, by the way.) The packed in oil kind has a rich, delicious flavor that the water kind just doesn't have. In this recipe it blends with the feta cheese and the artichokes to give it a little bit of an exotic Greek flavor.

So the next time you get that longing for a warm, comforting tuna casserole (and don't we all get those?), give this one a try. It makes great leftovers, too.

MEDITERRANEAN TUNA CASSEROLE, adapted from Everyday Food

• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for baking dishes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pound wide egg noodles
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 cups whole milk
• 4 cans (6 ounces each) tuna in olive oil, drained
• 1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and thickly sliced
• 5 scallions, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces feta cheese
  
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil two 8-inch square (or other shallow 2-quart) baking dishes. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until 2 minutes short of al dente; drain, and return to pot.
2. Meanwhile, in a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a simmer.
3. Remove from heat; add mixture to noodles in pot, along with tuna, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and scallions. Season with salt and pepper, and toss. Divide between prepared baking dishes, and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

Click here for printable recipe

Grand Central Market!!

So, I am LOVING all the recipes and suggestions you guys are sending me, and have been thinking to myself, Self, this is one of the best things that has come out of this little food blog adventure. How could life get any better?

Then the Grand Central Market folks called me. Life got better.

For those of you (like me) who weren't aware of this little piece of heaven in the middle of big bad New York City, it's located in the Grand Central Station terminal, and is a beautiful collection of 13 shops selling everything from wild boar salami to the best bread pudding I have ever tasted in my life, and everything in between. A few days ago they invited me down to meet some of the great folks who work there, and to sample some of the amazing treats they have to offer.

We started out at Murray's Real Salami. You know you are in heaven when you are dealing with a store that only sells salami. Or to be more specific, cooked and cured meats from all over the US and Europe. I tried to come up with the right words for the mesmerizing aroma coming out of this place, and I finally gave up. For someone who is head of the Bacon Admiration Society...let's just say they had me at hello.

Justin, who has the great good fortune to work in the middle of this aroma all day long, told me that the Cremenelli salami was very popular, and gave me a bite of the black truffle AND the wild boar salami. Let's just say that I thought I knew what good salami was before this. I didn't. Now I do. Oh my goodness. Don't live your whole life without trying this, okay?

Murray's has quite a few other goodies behind the counter keeping the salami company. I could have gotten into some serious trouble there, but I reminded myself this was only Stop #1, and I needed to pace myself. So we proceeded on to Ceriello, which sells meats and scrumptious-looking prepared foods.

This is Martin the Butcher, and this is his marinated prime dry aged ribeye steak. He explained that they marinate it in their own brand of olive oil with Tuscan spices (and I think I spy some garlic chunks in there too), and that it is one of their best and most popular items. They only sell aged beef here, which is more tender and flavorful because of scientific reasons related to the beef-aging process that I have no hope of understanding. I could practically hear the carnivourous Southern husband telling me "grab the ribeye and make a run for it!" But somehow I resisted, and besides, the great folks at Ceriello gave me a couple of these babies to try:

Oh, mama. They poured just a bit of their homemade olive oil over them first, and I thought I might faint. They are THAT good. Marinated aged rib-eye steak and blue-cheese artichoke hearts...now this is my kind of butcher, baby.

Now that I had the meat thoroughly checked out, it was time for some fish. And right across from Ceriello's was the wonderful Wild Edibles, where we had a great visit with beautiful Maggie, who looks just like Cybill Shepherd, and told us all about the great partnership Wild Edibles has with the Blue Ocean Institute.

In a nutshell, they tell you how each and every one of their fish is caught and/or farmed, so that the customer knows exactly what they are eating. In all seriousness now, I was so impressed. And doesn't it look so, so, so good??

Next stop was Penzey. I seriously cannot believe I have lived almost my entire life in the New York Metropolitan area, and not known about Penzey's Spices. Wonderful Amy at Penzey's explained that they are famous for their spice blends.



Penzeys has a load of beautiful jars of all the spices we know and love, but they also combine them together in these AMAZING blends that pretty much take you to spice heaven. They sent me home with something called "Bicentennial Rub" (salt, Tellicherry black pepper, sugar, turmeric, orange peel and coriander) and something called Northwoods Fire (salt, chipolte pepper, Hungarian paprika, garlic, rosemary, thyme, black pepper and cayenne). Uh-huh, THAT'S what I'm talking about. Where do they think these things up?? And how great that they do!! I have already used the Northwoods Fire spice in one dish already (watch for my upcoming post on coconut shrimp risotto) and ooh-la-la.



They also have a cinnamon blend that combines four, count them FOUR, different kinds of cinnamon - China, Vietnamese, Ceylon and Korintje cinnamon. It is the holy grail of cinnamon. I could be happy just breathing it in, never mind cooking with it.



Next stop...more Murray's! And this time we were talking cheese, which after bacon is my absolute favorite food group.



And Murray's has a LOT of cheese.




So I was basically finding it a little hard to breathe in and out when Julie from Murray's said, can I give you a sample of anything at all?

Why yes! I asked what she thought were some of their most delicious cheeses, and that scored me a sample of some Pleasant Ridge Reserve (a cow's milk cheese from Wisconsin). And some Kunik (an out of this world goat cheese). And, um, some of this Meadow Creek Grayson cheese.



Well, they DID ask me. And man, am I glad they did. They have over 300 different kinds of cheese, so whatever you are looking for, I'm guessing they have it.

Now that I was in a happy cheese-induced stupor, we went over to Li-Lac Chocolates. (I know, it's great to be me.) Li-Lac makes all their own chocolate in their Brooklyn factory and they have a little bit of everything, from white chocolate almond bark, to chocolate covered candied ginger, to almond toffee crunch. But mostly what they have is chocolate. Lots and lots and lots of chocolate.



Sometimes a chunk of chocolate is all that you need, especially when it is melt in your mouth delicious homemade in Brooklyn chocolate.



Or adorable bags of Halloween chocolate.



Or, maybe you like some nuts with your chocolate? I don't mind if I do. At this point I was getting, um, FULL. So the lovely Liveth from Li-Lac put together a care package for me that included a dark chocolate coconut cluster and a chocolate mousse-filled chocolate roll. I brought the second one home that night and practically had to fight the teenager for it. (It was worth the fight. And just for the record, I did split it with her, because that is just the awesome, generous mom that I am. )

So at this point I am thinking I have reached Grand Central Market Nirvana. Because really, what can be better than cheese followed by chocolate? Right?

Then I went to Dishes.



Oh my. Oh, my my my.

Dishes is basically the Holy Grail of prepared foods. Roasted brined turkey breast. Beef and fresh ricotta lasagne. Banana pudding. Grilled filet mignon with rosemary. And on and on and on, with dish after dish after dish of amazing looking food. Here is what they hooked me up with: Turkey meatballs with golden raisins and pinenuts, with lemon and cumin yogurt sauce.

A square of this AWESOME macaroni and cheese. I generously shared this with my Italian friend for lunch, because that is the loving and giving sort of friend I am (I mean, sharing mac and cheese?? that is true love) and we agreed that it was amazing. I think we actually stared into each other's eyes and said in unison, "This is AMAZING." With our mouths full.

And finally, they bestowed upon me what was probably my favorite dish in the entire Grand Central Market....this coconut apricot bread pudding. I don't even have words for this. It was creamy and sweet and wonderful and perfect. Check out that sauce it is sitting in. I have NO idea what it is, other than unbelievably good.



And last but not least, we stopped in at Pescatore, where I met the completely charming Jerry, who owns the place with his partner Glenn. (Jerry is the one in the baseball cap. As far as I know, the other one is NOT Glenn.)



Jerry explained that their shop grew out of their wholesale business, which provides fish to many of the elegant restaurants in New York...and now us home cooks can buy that same high-quality fish here at Pescatore. Their fish comes from all over the world, and Jerry said one of their missions is to help their customers discover the many terrific kinds of fish out there. And if you go to their online site...they deliver. Nationwide. Not kidding. Go.

Hi guys.

They also have a beautiful array of prepared foods, including things like this chilean sea bass filet...



And Jerry sent me home with a serving of this gorgeous sesame-crusted tuna, which made the Southern husband fall in love with me all over again. Go visit Pescatore's, folks, and make sure you say hi to Jerry for me.

At this point I had three bags worth of goodies, and was seriously considering moving to Westchester County so I could commute in and out of Grand Central Station. So my friends...if you are ever in or around Manhattan and you are even just a little bit hungry...Grand Central Market. And for all you non-New Yorkers out there, most of these places have online sites and you can order from them, so click away on all the links above.

Thanks, Grand Central Market! See you SOON!

Summertime Tuna Salad

Got tomatoes?

Yep, me too. It's July in New Jersey, and they have us surrounded.

If you don't grow them yourself, they practically tackle you whenever you walk into your local farm market. They are gorgeously red and shiny and alluring, and they are only sold in giant bushels-full around us, if you want the home-grown New Jersey ones. Which you do, trust me. So this is not the season of using one tomato at a time - right this second I have a multiple-tomato bolognese sauce cooking away on the stove (four tomatoes!), and I am planning a tomato mozzarella salad for later this week (three more tomatoes!). This tuna salad is only a one-tomato number, but it all helps.

We all know and love the tuna/mayo/celery salad, but this one is a little different. First of all, you MUST use tuna packed in oil. Must must must. Don't worry, you get to drain most of it off, but it is essential for the flavor (and you are not using the mayo, remember, so they cancel each other out. Isn't it great how that works out?) This is also not a sandwich-filling type of tuna salad, although I guess you could if you really wanted to. It's more of a salad-salad, just mounded on a plate and served with bread or crackers or something else bread-ish. We had ours with flatbread -- our favorite kind is the rosemary and sea salt flatbread from Margaret's Artisan Bakery. Until recently I have only been able to find it at JK Adams in Dorset, Vermont (don't get me started on JK Adams. That will be its own post after I make my next visit late next month). But recently I saw that Fairway has started stocking it. (Love you, Fairway. Will you marry me?) Here is the website for this great flatbread - if you don't live in Dorset Vermont or near Fairway, maybe it will tell you where you can find it in a store near you:

Margaret's Artisan Bakery Flatbread

Anyway. This salad is quick and lovely, and so long as you use the tuna in the oil you have my permission to mess around with the other ingredients, especially the herbs. And don't forget the tomato, of course.

Uh-oh, here comes my mom with a giant bag of string beans from her garden.

SUMMERTIME TUNA SALAD

• 1 six ounce can of tuna, packed in oil.
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon capers
• Salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped herbs (basil, parsley, thyme are all good -- mix them up!)

Drain the excess oil from the tuna and mix up with all other ingredients. Serve with crackers, bread, flatbread, etc etc etc. Happy summer.

Mexican Tuna Salad

Mark Bittman's fabulous Greek Nachos inspired me to go rummaging through my recipe collection to find one of our favorite no-cook suppers: Mexican Tuna Salad. Adapted from Family Circle's All-Time Favorite Recipes, it takes the same general approach as the nachos: take a standard recipe and shake it up a little!

In this case, we are taking your standard garden variety tuna salad -- tuna, mayo, celery -- and replacing it with ingredients usually found in a taco salad. So instead of mayo we used sour cream laced with a little cumin. Instead of celery we use salsa and chopped cucumber. All this sits on a bed of chopped iceberg lettuce. And instead of sandwich bread -- warm tortillas! I fold them into cute little napkin shapes and then let folks scoop the salad into them as they go along. Half tuna sandwich, half taco, all delicious and fun. And (as with all my weekday meals) -- ready in less time than it takes to eat it!

So between the chorizo pork kabobs, the Greek Nachos and the Mexican Tuna Salad, this has been a mini trip around the world, brought to you in living color, from my kitchen to yours. We will be returning tomorrow to beautiful, rainy Northern New Jersey with good old American macaroni and cheese, by popular demand and because I have an overload of cheese in my fridge. In the meantime, if you would like to stay south of the border for now, here is the recipe for Mexican Tuna Salad...

MEXICAN TUNA SALAD

Serves 4

• 4 flour tortillas
• 1 12 oz can tuna, drained
• 1/2 cup corn kernels
• 1/2 cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/3 cup sour cream, extra for garnish
• 1/2 teaspooon cumin2 cups shredded iceburg lettuce

1. Heat oven to 350. Wrap tortillas in foil and heat in oven to 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, flake tuna (this is best done with your hands. Seriously. Do it this way and you will never try it with a fork again. It's just so much more efficient.) Mix in corn and cucumbers.

3. Combine salsa, sour cream and cumin in a separate bowl. Gently stir salsa mixture into tuna mixture.

3. Scatter lettuce on plates. Mound tuna salad on lettuce, top with dollop of sour cream. Serve with warm tortillas.