H and I share a love for tuna, don’t we, H? We also share a love for salmon (and that’s not to mention chocolate, cheese, knitting, sewing, decorating, sundresses… the list goes on). Consider it mutual-love-item-#76. When the boyfriend and I were on our cruise recently, I went a bit crazy with the tuna salad sandwiches (so good!)- thus imagine my delighted surprise when H suggested we make these delicious Oregon Tuna Melts for this week’s cooking date! How on Earth could I refuse so brilliant a suggestion?

These were monstrous. I mean, if I were a big, strong man who liked large, meaty wiches, then this would have been the one. I was barely able to finish half of this thing. It’s INTENSE. H will probably have me note that she was able to eat hers but she has magical sandwich-eating powers so that’s neither here nor there. The point is, if you have a hungry boyfriend to feed- as is often the case, it seems- this one’s a winner. And it involves fresh, delicious ciabatta. What’s not to enjoy?

What’s really original about this recipe is that there’s mayonnaise spread on the sandwich, but not in the tuna salad- rather, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (two of my favourite things in life) flavour it instead. Original, delicious, and more healthy. Case closed. Make this sandwich.

Oregon Tuna Melts

Adapted from Oregon Tuna Melts from Food & Wine Magazine’s  Simple Acts of Sandwich Genius (Tommy Habetz)

Ingredients (makes 2 large sandwiches):

• 2 6-oz cans albacore tuna (chunk light, in water)
• 1/4 cup finely-diced red onion
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar from modena (don’t get me started on vinegars)
• 1 heaping teaspoon dried basil (recipe called for fresh, we went for dried for a less sharp taste)
• 2 ciabatta rolls, split in half
• Dijon mustard and mayonnaise for spreading
• 4 1/4-inch-thick organic Emmantaler cheese slices (so good!)
• sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Process:

1. Heat grill pan/panini press on medium heat.
2. Drain tuna, then mix in small bowl with onion, olive oil, vinegar, dried basil, salt, and pepper.
3. Spread mustard on one half of the ciabatta rolls and mayo on the other. Layer two slices of cheese over the mustard half on each roll. Spread the tuna salad on top of the cheese evenly. Place the mayo’d ciabatta slice over the tuna to close the sandwiches.
4. The recipe suggests you brush some melted butter onto the tops of the sandwiches; I prefer to have a little organic canola oil heating on the grill instead. It’s healthier! Place the sandwiches (ours were so large, we had to go one at a time… my grill pan is not too gargantuan) on the grill and cover with the panini press. Grill over medium heat for 6-8 minutes, until you have some nice grill marks going.
5. Cut in half and serve warm with a cool, refreshing drink! I suggest some home-made lemonade.

Mine was not quite as warm as I dilligently shot pictures prior to eating, but it was quite nice… and I’m not a fan of melting cheese, so I liked it better with the cheese being a bit cool. These are terrific for that day when you need a hearty sandwich that feels decadent but really isn’t too bad! I’m sure you could try many a variant of it as well.

I proved quite fully with this dish that my sister and I sadly realllly can’t handle the slightest bit of spice. We had this conversation at dinner while eating this:

Sister: (fanning self slightly)

Boyfriend: (nomnomnomnom)

Me: Boyfriend, is this not spicy to you?

Boyfriend: Ahm… no? Should it be?

Sister: To me, on a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 7. Hot hot hot hot!

Boyfriend: To me this is… mmh.. maybe a .7, on that same scale.

So as you can see, to the average person (or perhaps to the usual spicily-tolerant Asian boy), this is not that spicy- in which case the title is inaccurate- but as it was spicy to me, I’m keeping the name. So stricken. :) It’s certainly a tasty dish, and quite healthy, at that.

Spicy Tomato & Cheese Whole Grain Penne Bake

Ingredients:

• 5 tiny sweet white onions
• 4 fresh cherry tomatoes
• 3/4 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tblspn soy butter
• 1/2 box whole grain penne
• 3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp each of cayenne pepper, paprika, coriander, cumin, garlic powder
• 1 28-oz can of organic diced tomatoes in juice
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup shredded mozarella
• 2 chicken breasts, cleaned
• 1/3 cup dry cream sherry
• 1 tsp each of dried oregano, basil
• 1/2 cup grated Reggianito (Argentine Parmesan)
• sea salt & freshly-cracked black pepper

Process:

1. Dice onion fairly finely and place in sautee pan with 1 tblspn soy butter, garlic, and sprinkling of salt and pepper
2. Once it begins to bubble and brown, add in the spices (red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, paprika, coriander, cumin, garlic powder) and continue mixing until red/golden in colour
3. Add in the entire can of diced tomatoes and their juice, and the lemon juice and put on medium low heat; stir occasionaly, allow to bubble and thicken
4. Heat water to boil and cook penne according to your preference or box instructions (I like it a bit al dente, with salt and olive oil to prevent sticking). Rinse lightly, then pour into a greased deep baking dish.
5. Place the cherry tomato slices over the pasta (see picture) along with half of the cheese, and drizzle lightly with olive oil (optional)
6. Pour thickened tomato sauce over the tomato slices and pasta, and smooth out to where it’s evenly laid. Sprinkle on a bit more cheese.
7. Preheat oven to 355 degrees F.
8. Sautee 1 more tblspn of soy butter with a spinkle of salt and pepper until bubbling; then add in the chicken breasts. Sear on both sides until no more ‘pink flesh’ is visible- then add in the sherry and reduce to a caramel-y sauce. Glaze the chicken with this and remove onto a cutting board.
9. Cut the chicken into large cubes, then put back into the sautee pan (hope you didn’t clean it, you want that fond de sauce in there!) and continue to sautee for 2-3 minutes until browned on all sides.
10. Sprinkle the herbs onto the top of the tomato sauce mixture, evenly spread about the dish.
11. Remove the chicken from pan and place evenly on top of tomato sauce/herbs/cheese.
12. Grate the Reggianito on top, sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper, and place in oven for 20 minutes approximately, until the cheese is melted and golden.
13. Allow to cool slightly, then serve warm (may fall apart- be wary and be ready to catch falling pieces)

If you can handle spice, then up the spiciness by adding more cayenne and red pepper flakes. But if you’re a spice wimp, like me, then you needn’t add more, this is already plenty :).

H and I had made beer bread together several months ago and those warm, happy memories had stayed with me. When a dinner guest came bearing two boxes of beer to drink between himself and the boyfriend, I found myself anxiously wondering what to do with the rest of it. I don’t drink beer; I’m not accustomed to having it around the apartment; and thus its lack of a specific spot in the kitchen had me looking for quick ways to use it. I opted to try Farmgirl Fare’s beer bread recipe again, trying a very different variant. It came out delicious- warm, crusty, but moist on the inside… incredibly fragrant and with a very nice texture.

Onion, Garlic, and Chives San Pietro Beer Bread

Adapted from / variant of Farmgirl Fare’s Beyond-Easy Beer Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 12-oz bottle Fat Tire beer
• 1/3 cup chopped chives
• 4 cloves garlic, minced and smashed
• 4 small white chive onions, diced
• 3/4 cup grated San Pietro cheese
• 3 cups organic all-purpose flour
• 1 tblspn granulated sugar, baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp large rock sea salt for garnish
• 1 egg for garnish

Process:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix together all ingredients other than the beer- San Pietro, chives, onion, garlic, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder, in a large mixing bowl. Make sure that these are evenly distributed- once the beer is in, you don’t want to overmix, so it’s essential to make sure that things are as uniform- or not- as you’d like at this point.
3. Add the beer a bit at a time in a steady stream, mixing as little as possible. There may be a few small clumps of flour that remain unmixed- despite the strong urge to mix them in thoroughly, don’t- just know that the baking process will fix it for you :)
4. Grease a bread pan with soy butter and pour in the dough. Crack the egg into a small mixing bowl and beat thoroughly. Take a pastry or basting brush and brush on the egg , then sprinkle on large sea salt and extra cheese if you’d like acrispier crust (if not, leave out the extra cheese).
5. Place the bread in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 50 min – 1 hour, until the middle is cooked through (use a toothpick) and the top has a rich golden hue. Cool on a wire cooling rack once cool enough to handle quickly, and then transfer to a cutting board and slice it up!

It’s delicious warm, seriously. Eat it warm. Mmmh. The smell of fresh bread baking in the oven is rather hard to beat, and this one is salty, rich, and tasty! FF’s recipe is so incredibly simple, and doesn’t require any kneading. No need to knead! No worrying about activating yeast- it’s already bubbling in the beer! What more can you ask for in a quick, painless bread recipe?