[Sca-cooks] Tuna sandwiches

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

First, the tuna. I now buy chunk light tongol packed in water from 
Whole Foods - it's actually better than the common brands sold in 
supermarkets which look and smell like cat food to me, and it's only 
99 cents a can. I used to buy solid pack albacore, but now i'm 
concerned about its high mercury content, and dark has a lower level 
of contamination than white. I've tried tuna in olive oil and it was 
pretty good, but it's too expensive to buy often. (one brand was 
about $8.50 for less than a normal can of tuna, light or dark)

So now i'll start with negatives - i know, i know, that's not nice.

I'm not much of a bread guy, so i just eat tuna salad not in a 
sandwich, but with a side of mesclun or lettuce - i like butter 
lettuce.

I'm no fan of green bell peppers, which my mom used to put in tuna 
salad, although i don't have a powerful aversion to them. I've 
discovered that red bell pepper is much more edible than green, and i 
actually like Moroccan style cooked red bell peppers, but they don't 
go in tuna salad.

I'm no fan of raw onions, and my mom used to put scallions/green 
onions in tuna salad, which i don't.

I put capers in mine. Occasionally chopped pickle, but never *sweet* 
relish, ick.

I especially like tarragon in my tuna salad, and sometimes dill 
and/or basil and/or thyme and/or marjoram.

I LOVE mustard, so i put that in my tuna salad (none of the chrome 
yellow stuff, though).

As for mayonnaise... i use it, but i prefer aioli (which is a sort of 
very garlic-y mayo)

My favorite mayo is "Lemonaise" (brand: The Ojai Cook - Ojai 
(pronounced O-Hi is a town in SoCal)) - has more lemon than the 
usual, has some whole mustard seeds in it, and has a consistency i 
find more appealing. However, I tried one of their other flavors and 
it was icky - i think it was the garlic-herb - it had an unpleasant 
consistency and unpleasant mouth feel - it wasn't just the basic 
"Lemonaise" with garlic and herbs, rather it had a bunch of other 
ingredients which i felt were detrimental to the quality.

Homemade mayo made with really good olive oil is nice, too, but i'm 
usually too lazy to make it.

For next Lent, mayo lovers could try vegan mayonnaise or vegan aioli 
(egg and dairy free), Wildwood brand is what i use, in the 
refrigerator case at the health food store. It isn't as succulent as 
good mayo, but it's quite good. I sometimes buy it just 'cuz i like 
it. And those who don't like the taste of mayo might like the vegan 
mayo or aioli, since they don't have that eggy/sulfurous undertone 
commercial mayo brands have.

And when i'm really lazy, i open the can of tuna, drain it, and pour 
in some of Annie's Naturals (brand) Goddess Dressing (made with 
canola oil, tahini, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic, toasted sesame 
seeds, and some other good stuff)

As for pan bagnat, i used to buy it from street vendors when i lived 
in Southern France. My recollection is that it was open-face, but, 
heck, it was over 30 years ago, so i could be remembering wrong.

-- 
Urtatim, formerly Anahita

back from Western March Crown, where it was actually warm on Saturday 
and held off raining on Sunday until pretty late in the afternoon 
when i was already on the road.