An Easy Old School Lunch

Get your can opener and grater out — tuna melts are damn delicious.

I am in for a treat today. My 86 year old mother-in-law, husband and I are holed up in a cabin in the deep north of Canada. We’re self isolating and doing loads of cooking. My mother-in-law is an amazing cook (she’d give Julia Child a run for her money) and this morning she said,

“Kids — I’m making you some comfort food for lunch today. How about my famous tuna melt?”

You should have seen how my husband’s eyes lit up! We cheered and you will too once you try her recipe.

Sometimes, especially in these strange times, going old school is the best way to go. You use ingredients on hand, and give them delicious twists — just as our parents and grandparents had to do to stretch meals a little further.

And whether you are working remotely, at home with kids or just holed up like we are — it certainly is an easy comfort food. And right now — we all need as much comfort as we can get.

Old School Tuna Melt

Ingredients:

1–2 pieces of bread per person (Any kind of bread will do)

2- cans of tuna (water or oil packed)

1/2–3/4 cup grated cheese (whatever you have in your home)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickles (you can substitute green olives)

1/2 medium onion — finely chopped (dried works too)

1 stick celery — finely chopped

1 tsp mustard (whatever you have on hand)

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Turn broiler onto high on your oven. Put the wire rack in the middle.
2. Butter 6 slices of bread and place on a cookie sheet or broiler pan with buttered sides up.
3. Drain liquid from tuna cans. Add tuna and all ingredients after — in a medium sized bowl. Mix thoroughly.
4. Place 1/3 cup of tuna mixture onto each slice of bread and spread it so bread is covered.
5. Place cookie sheet onto middle rack in oven and broil for 5–7 minutes but you need to watch closely. You should see the tuna melts bubbling and toasted brown all over the top.
6. Remove from oven and eat while hot.

Thanks for reading! I have loads of food essays (delicious recipes too) and thoughtful and quirky simpler living essays waiting for you. (Well over 100 of them!) And this story caught the attention of NBC News in New York!