fully loaded tuna sandwich

SPRING IS HERE! its finally here! The sun is out longer, its getting warmer, and birds are chirping in the morning! I never thought I would say this but since its been so cold out the past few weeks, I mean it when I say I am ready for the sun and the intense allergies that come along with it. Don't worry though, I am whipping out the Manuka honey and Zyrtec as we speak.

One of the things that I love to have especially during the spring and summer months is a good tuna fish sandwich. Tuna sandwiches are creamy, crunchy, mild, but flavorful and must be served in a crispy but light baguette. No excuses! To me, the best tuna sandwiches are eaten the second the fish meets the bread. Once the tuna has meet its bread buddy, they are both at their prime so its the best time to dig in!

Making a good tuna fish sandwich is all about the extras. It not really about the tuna. As long as you get a good water based no salt tuna (I like the one from trader joe's) then you're already on your way to making a good tuna sandwich. But to make a delicious sandwich you need to find the balance of the extras. What I mean by that is that the tuna brings the meat, the clean ocean-y flavor, the mayo gives the creaminess, and the extras like capers and black pepper add the pizazz. The color. The attitude.

After years of eating tuna fish sandwiches I found that my favorite combination of extras are capers, scallions, black pepper, and basil. Each off these guys plays their own role to my tuna sammie. They balance each other out and add flay-vaah. The capers and scallions bring some tang and onion-iness, black pepper gives spice, and basil (preferably fresh) add some freshness. Put everything together in a fresh baguette and WHAM you got the best tuna sandwich ever!

Ingredients:

For the tuna:

• 2 cans of tuna fish, drained

• 1/2 cup of mayo

• 1 tablespoon of capers

• 1 stalk of scallions, diced

• 1 teaspoon of black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon of basil (fresh is preferred but dried works too)

• Salt to taste

For assembly:

• 1 baguette

• 1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced

• squeeze of a lemon

• 1 tomato, sliced

• 1 cucumber, sliced

Instructions:

For the tuna:

1. The first thing you want to do is take your drained tuna out of the can and place it in a medium sized bowl.

2. Grab a fork and break up the tuna chunks into tiny flakey pieces.

3. Next, combine the mayo, capers, diced scallions, black pepper, dried basil, and salt until it become one homogenous mixture. Taste it and see if you'd like to add any more salt. I generally do a little sprinkle. I like to keep it low sodium.

For assembly:

1. Here is where everything comes together! Grab your baguette (if you like you can toast it but for me, freshly made baguettes are perfect on their own) and drop large dollops of your tuna mixture in to the bread.

2. Finally, top it off with your favorite toppings. Mine are fresh cucumbers, thinly shaved red onions, a squeeze of lemon, and some tomatoes.

3. You can serve it will a side salad, a couple of chips, or you do what I do and have a tuna sandwich with a side of another tuna sandwich. Its the perf. combo.