Luci's Tasty Adventures

I have this sourdough starter living in my refrigerator, and I try to make fresh sourdough bread with it about twice a month.  Trying to master sourdough bread is time consuming, but I hope eventually it pays off.  So, this morning I really wanted to make some bread, and work on my sourdough recipe.  The only problem I had was I needed something to do with the bread.  Normally I bake little baguettes and make appetizers with smoked salmon, Mascarpone cheese, and lemon peel.  I don't see any parties in the immediate future so I had to come up with something else.  Tuna melts just popped into my head.  So, here we are tuna melts with fresh sourdough bread for dinner.  Sounds pretty good eh?

This tuna recipe is a combination of my Grandmother Kalivoda's recipe, and my Mother's.  I really don't have their recipes I just remember how small my Grandmother chopped her celery and onions, and mostly I remember how my Mom's tuna was never chock full of mayo like so many tunas can be.  I make my tuna melts as an open face sandwich.  First I broil the bread, then pile it high with tuna salad and top it with cheese, then I plop it back under the broiler till it is golden brown.  Sometimes I will move the tray in the lower part of the oven after the cheese has browned to ensure the entire sandwich is heated.  When it comes to the cheese I usually try to use the cheese I currently have in my pantry.  Today I will be using Fontina cheese, you can easily use many different types of cheese.


Ingredients:

• ¼ cup yellow onion, diced
• ¼ cup celery, diced
• 1 Tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 3 5-ounce cans solid white tuna, drained and flaked
• 1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup Grated Fontina cheese
• 8 slices of sourdough bread, 1/2-3/4 inch thick

Method:

Position one oven rack underneath broiler, and the other in the middle of oven.  Turn broiler on.  In a bowl mix together onion, celery, parsley, lemon juice, mustard, pepper, tuna and mayonnaise.






















Toast bread slices underneath the broiler for about 2-3 minutes.  Remove them and let them cool for a minute.  Divide the tuna salad up into 8 portions and spread evenly over each slice of bread.  Top each slice of bread with cheese, 1/8 cup per toast.















Put tuna melts under the broiler for 2 minutes, then move them to the middle of rack for 2 minutes, then put them back under the broiler till they are toasted and browned.  Serves 4 people.