101 Uses for a Ripe Garden Tomato: #22--Melted

Surfing my food porn websites one night, I ran across a photo of a tuna melt that made me drool, and I've been thinking of tuna melts ever since. (Actually, I've been dreaming about them. I dream about food: Does that make me weird?)

Mine's not as pretty--but it was delicious!

(Toasted french bread slice, topped with tuna salad, tomato, and cheddar, and then broiled for 5 minutes.)

My tuna salad "recipe" includes the following to taste: canned tuna (drained & flaked), chopped onion, very finely minced celery (but not always), mayo, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and my secret ingredient, finely shredded carrots. (Carrots add a delicious crunch and pretty color, are nutritious , and are a great filler to stretch other ingredients. Carrots are the secret ingredient in a lot of my cooking. Shh.) The kinds of vegetables and amounts can change. (Think chopped peppers, minced garlic or shallots, etc.) Sometimes I put in chopped, boiled eggs. Sometimes I add dill or other herbs. Sometimes I omit the lemon juice and add curry powder. (Although curry is much better with chicken salad. Yum, yum.)

I love tuna salad. I'm not sure why I don't make it more often. Maybe it's all the chopping, although now that I think about it almost everything I make requires a lot of chopping.

I think tomatoes stuffed with tuna salad might be next!