Tuna Salad on Sourdough Francese

Tuna Salad on Sourdough Bread with Romaine Lettuce & Vine-Ripened Tomatoes (in honor of my Mom)

I've updated this classic sandwich meal with Dijon mustard, a hearty country sourdough, romaine lettuce and vegan split pea soup. The video gives step-by-step instructions for making this Tuna Sandwich meal in approximately 8 minutes.




This is what Mom used to give me for school lunch when I was a kid, and I still love it, except I update it a bit. She'd put a tuna sandwich in my lunchbox, along with a hard-boiled egg and a little box of raisins.

I'd think about lunch all morning at school and then pop my little lunchbox open and devour the contents. Love at 12noon. When my daughter was little, I used to make sandwiches for her and put them in her little purple lunchbox. I'd slip in a hard-boiled egg and a little box of raisins. Thanks, Mom.

I'm pairing this recipe with a song that makes me think of schooldays: "Autumn Leaves." As the long days of summer came to an end in August, we schoolkids ruminated with dread on going back to those hard-backed chairs placed factory style in rows facing the Teacher.

Although the lyrics of this song focus on longing for lost love, the image of falling leaves also makes me think of going to elementary on an air force base in Anchorage, Alaska and in a public school in Jamaica, New York.

During the Summer, we boys played war, Cowboys-and-Indians and pickup games of baseball, handball and tackle football without helmets from sunup 'til sundown, when we knew we'd better git home or Mom would tell Dad that we needed...discipline.

Sitting in the classroom on those September mornings, the falling of the leaves symbolized the death of all that summer fun. Although I was one of those annoying children who loved school, even I preferred playing all day during the Summer to being bound to a desk as the still warming sun mocked us children from beyond the windows.

Since Autumn Leaves is one of my Mom and Dad's favorite songs, I gave it a really big arrangement on "KiTCHEN MuSIC." The piece starts with a brief multitracked doo-wop acapella preamble I wrote called "Look At All Those Colors," after which I sing solo with guitar, then chorus, then full band, finally ending up with an 8-piece gospel style chorus with full band as I scat sing over the top. Yeah, I got carried away. Recording all this took months, as I built up each instrumental and vocal track one-by-one, doing countless retakes until I felt it was right. Here's a sample from my album.

TOOLS
Large bowl for mixing the Tuna Salad
Serrated-edge knife for cutting the crusty bread
Small saucepan for boiling the eggs
Microwave-safe bowl for heating the split pea soup

INGREDIENTS - Tuna Salad
- One 6 oz. can dolphin-safe solid white albacore tuna packed in water
- 2-3 tablespoons All-natural Mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- Squeeze of fresh Lemon
- 2 tablespoons Minced Onion (if you have time)
- 5 dashes Onion Powder (if you're pressed for time)
- 1 tablespoon Minced Garlic (if you have time)
- 3 dashes Garlic Powder (if you're pressed for time)
- Kosher Salt to taste
- Whole black Peppercorns, ground fresh, to taste

INGREDIENTS - Sandwich
- Hearty crusty country sourdough francese, baguette or pullman
- 2 or 3 leaves, rinsed and patted dry, of Romaine or Butter Crunch lettuce (sweet flavored lettuces)
- 2 or 3 leaves, rinsed and patted dry, of Arugula, Escarole or Radicchio (bitter flavored lettuces)
- 1 medium sized vine-ripened red tomato
- 3 thin slices of very ripe avocado (death by cream)
- three fingers' full of alfalfa sprouts
- Italian-Style Parsley for garnish

INGREDIENTS - Side Dishes
- Two large eggs for boiling
- 1 can split pea soup (Vegan or with ham)
- Lunchbox sized box of raisins

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook and peel the eggs first, a process that takes about 20 minutes from start to finish (See Sidebar: Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs)
2. After the eggs are cooked, lay out ALL the ingredients for the Tuna Salad and Sandwich
3. Open the can of soup, pour it into a small saucepan, and set the heat on low. The soup will be hot and ready to eat by the time you're done making the salad and sandwich
4. Combine all the tuna salad ingredients together in a large bowl, mixing, mashing and stirring until everything is well incorporated and the tuna salad has no large chunk
5. Prepare the bread by slicing into sandwich-sized pieces
6. Spread the tuna salad on one piece of the bread and all the other ingredients (lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced avocado, alfalfa sprouts, parsley) on the other piece
7. In one smooth, deft, catlike motion, flip the tuna bread over onto the veggie bread. Be quick about it. Or else get the broom, mop and bleach spray, and start all over again.
8. Sit down and eat all this with a friend while reminiscing about schooldays, childhood and lost love.

SIDEBAR: Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs (From The Incredible Edible Egg)
1. Put the eggs on the bottom of the pan.
2. Put the pan in the sink. Run water into the pan until the water is 1 inch over the eggs.
3. Put the pan on a burner. Turn it to medium-high heat.
4. Let the water come to a boil. Put the lid on the pan when the water is boiling. Move the pan onto a cold burner. Set the timer for 15 minutes for Large-sized eggs (or for 12 minutes for Medium-sized eggs or for 18 minutes for Extra Large-sized eggs).
5. Put the pan in the sink when the time is over. Run cold water into the pan until the eggs are cool. Put the eggs into the refrigerator if you're going to use them later or peel them if you're going to use them right away. Be sure to use all the cooked eggs up before a week is over.
6. Gently tap a cooled egg on the countertop or table until it has cracks in it. Roll the egg between your hands until the cracks turn into small crackles all over the egg.
7. Use your fingers to start peeling off the shell at the large end of the egg. If you need to, you can hold the egg under running cold water or dip it in a bowl of water to make peeling easier. Throw out the pieces of eggshell when the egg is all peeled. You can eat the egg or use it in a recipe when it's peeled.

Enjoy! - Roberto