Ultimate Tuna Melts
This tuna melt has been eye-opening in so many ways. Did you ever think you’d hear someone say that about a tuna melt? Let me explain.
Up until college, I’d never had a tuna melt. Just never had one. I’d had plenty of tuna salad sandwiches, and many a grilled cheese, but no tuna melt. Then one day, my college roommate made one for herself for lunch and I thought, “Hey, that looks good.” So I made one. It was, in fact, good. Like a tuna sandwich, but obviously better, because of the melted cheese. Since then, I’ll make one every once in a while, the same way I’d make myself a peanut butter and jelly every so often. Sometimes, it just sounds really good, but it’s never exactly mind-blowing.
Up until now, my tuna salad-making routine has followed this basic procedure: open a can of tuna, add some mayo, some chopped onion, maybe some chopped pickles or relish, and some Mrs. Dash seasoning. Done. Pretty standard. Kind of lame. But yesterday, as I was thinking a tuna melt sounded good, I also thought, “What if I actually tried to make it delicious?” It seems strange that it never occurred to me before, but sometimes you take things that are “good” for granted, and never really give any thought as to what would make them amazing.
The biggest revelation in this whole experiment was the tuna itself. I always used to just grab whatever tuna was on sale, I thought all tuna was pretty much the same. But, friends… not true. I happened to pick up this Wild Planet Albacore Tuna at Costco, which frankly, makes me wonder why I ever bought any other kind. You can tell the difference as soon as you open the can… it doesn’t have that crazy pungent tuna smell that can drive you crazy. It smells like tuna, yes, but not so much that you wonder if your nostrils will ever recover. And instead of a big wet mass of pinkish stuff, it’s actually a big chunk of a tuna steak. Imagine! I promise they are not paying me to tell you this, but I was super impressed by this tuna and I think it made a big difference to how delicious my melts were. I’m a convert. Ok. Point made. Moving on.
Then I decided that too much mayo doesn’t usually help a tuna melt, so I cut that way back and added a nice amount of lemon juice. Instead of pickles or relish, I used capers, which were absolutely wonderful. They’re salty and briny, which is perfect against the bright acidity of the lemon and the sharp bits of red onion. I added some red bell pepper, for some sweetness and crunch. And a pretty hefty amount of black pepper. I gave it a taste. Then another. Then another. Wow. Tuna salad? This is better than any tuna salad I’ve ever had.
Instead of the typical slice of sandwich bread or a spongy english muffin, I decided that the base of my melt would be some good crusty bread that I had leftover from dinner the night before. This works perfectly because it’s sturdy enough to retain its chewy insides and gets super crispy around the edges.
Cheddar is pretty much the ultimate for tuna melts; it just works so well. I’m not going to mess with it. I will note, though, that if you want that gorgeously melting bubbly topping, with long strings of cheese that ooze from each bite, there is a secret. Ready for it? Shred your own cheese. And when you shred it, push the long side of the cheese down the box grater, so you get nice loooong shreds of cheese instead of little nubs. Don’t buy the stuff in the bag. Trust me. That stuff has cellulose (mmm wood pulp, anyone?) and stuff in it, and it doesn’t melt the same way. I usually hate to be so specific, I mean, you can do what you want… but if you truly want the ultimate tuna melt, well, that is how you get it.
I know you’re thinking that this can’t possibly be worth buying the special tuna and shredding your own cheese and blah blah blah… but, yes, it is. This tuna melt is so good that when I took the first bite, my eyes got really big, like in a cartoon, and I sighed. Well, that answered that question. If I tried to actually take a tuna melt from good to amazing… well, the result is me eating a lot more tuna melts.
Ingredients
- 2 (5 oz) cans of wild albacore tuna
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- ¼ cup diced red pepper
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 3 tablespoons mayo
- juice of ½ a lemon
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt to taste
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 4 large, thick slices of your favorite crusty bread
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Drain tuna and in a medium-sized bowl, break it up into small chunks. Add the red onion, red pepper, capers, mayo, lemon juice, and black pepper to the tuna, and stir until just combined. Add salt to taste. Set aside.
- On a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper, arrange slices of bread. Top each piece with an equal amount of tuna salad, spreading it out over the entire slice. Bake in the over for about 5-6 minutes, or until the edges of the bread are crispy and the tuna is warm.
- Remove the tuna toasts from the oven and turn your broiler to high. Top each piece of bread with shredded cheese, spreading it over the tuna. Put them back in the oven, under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and serve right away.