Sunday, September 21, 2008

Autumn Apples in Tuna Salad

“My favorite sandwich is peanut butter, baloney, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise on toasted bread with catsup on the side.”
Hubert H. Humphrey (former Senator from Minnesota)
Tuna Salad is way up there on my sandwich hit parade. I like it just about anyway you make it. Well, except the way this co-worker I had one time made it with mustard. Yuck! Mustard is for salami and bologna and hotdogs and hamburgers. Tuna is strictly mayonnaise or straight.

One of my favorite additions -- apples -- I learned from my friend Roger, and I love the crisp, sweet addition of apples better than the standard pickle relish. In fact, I started with the apple riff yesterday when I made a big batch for weekend lunches. First in the bowl were 4 cans of tuna - 2 solid white water-packed and 2 chunk light olive oil-packed. BTW, have you noticed the can size has really shrunk? Seems to me, a can used to be about 6 oz., but now the kind in olive oil is only 3 oz. and the water variety is 4 oz. The cans are smaller, but the price is higher.

But I digress. All the tuna was drained before flaking in the bowl. Next, I added finely chopped celery, finely chopped apple, and finely chopped pecans. All of this was tossed together and then blended with enough mayonnaise to give it a stick-together-when-you-spread-it consistency. And that's it!

We've been eating it on Oatmeal Bread or Whole Wheat Bread, with a little more mayonnaise, of course, and some nice leafy lettuce. A tuna sandwich that is perfection with autumn apples!

Apple Pecan Tuna Salad
2 cans solid white water-pack tuna, drained
2 cans chunk light olive oil-packed tuna, drained
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 medium apple with peel (Gala, McIntosh, Honey Crisp, Golden Delicious)
1/3 c. finely chopped pecans
Hellman's Mayonnaise (Low-Fat or Regular)

Add all ingredients together with enough mayonniase to blend into a stiff-spreadable consistency.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds delicious, I love tuna. Can't wait to make it, maybe even my kids will eat tuna this way.

Unknown said...

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Cora! My family will eat for another night! Tuesday, tuna -- can't wait to taste it!

I love you.

Robin

Cora said...

Sonnet,if they won't eat it as tuna salad, you can try it with chicken. Either will be delicious.

Robin, it always seems to be the simple things that delight us most. You made me laugh. Now I'll go on to write another day. Thanks! I love you too.

Cora

Anonymous said...

Cora,

I have two things to say and they will date me but I can't resist. First, I went to my local grocery store in search of the ingredients for the tuna salad. Uh-oh... among the myriad packages and cans of tuna there is no chunk light tuna in olive oil. I felt a little like Gomer when Barney deputized Gomer and Otis for a plain-clothes detail protecting Andy and Gomer was excited because he has a "plain brown suit" to wear. However, the next evening, as they convened for the detail, Gomer wondered aloud to Barney if he could go ahead with his duties because there was a "little stripe in the suit". Could I go ahead and make the tuna with SOLID LIGHT TUNA IN OLIVE OIL? I decided to take the plunge. The tuna turned out wonderfully with my unwanted substitution. So... G-4... it's a hit!

I love you.

Robin