Tuna & Chicken Salad

Same Song, Different Verse



This past week I made up boxed lunches for one of my clients. She had a series of luncheon meetings with her contractors and wanted something more interesting than the ordinary turkey or roast beef sandwiches she usually picked up. This was right up my alley.

Years ago, in my second foray into the food service business, I sold sandwiches on home-baked croissants and I had a couple of fillings that were popular with my customers back then. They had the advantage of being old standards -- and so familiar -- while offering a different take on those classics.

This business of reinventing old favorites and comfort foods has been gaining popularity among chefs and restaurants for a few years now.

This business of reinventing old favorites and comfort foods has been gaining popularity among chefs and restaurants for a few years now. As one would expect, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. In the following two cases, as measuredby popularity with my customers, the recipes worked

Tuna Salad Parmesan

In my version, bell peppers provide a sharper vegetable flavor than the traditional celery, capers provide the briny taste but without the clutter of dill (or, even worse, the sweet pickle relish sometimes used), red onions provide a touch of sweetness along with heat, and the shredded parmesan brings a deeply savory flavor to the whole.

1 ea canned tuna in oil — 12 oz, drained
1/4 ea bell pepper — diced
1/4 ea red onion — diced
1/2 ea lemon — juiced
1/4 c shredded parmesan cheese
12 ea grape tomatoes — halved
3 tbsps capers — rinsed & drained
3 tbsps mayonnaise
salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together. Chill. Serve stuffed in pita with a lettuce leaf.

Curried Chicken Salad

This is seriously good stuff. Chicken is a marvelous base for all sorts of flavors the sweetness of the fruit highlights the curry flavor.

3 lbs chicken — whole, cut up
1 ea celery stalk — with leaves
1 ea carrot — cut up in 1" chunks
1 ea bay leaf
1 ea apple — large
3/4 c raisins
1/2 c coconut flakes
1/2 c scallions — cut into 1/2" pieces
3 tbsps mayonnaise
2 tbsp curry powder — hot
salt to taste

Cut up chicken and boil with celery, parsley, carrot, and bay over medium-high heat until cooked through, removing smaller pieces as they become done. Discard vegetables and strain and reserve stock for soup.

Skin and bone chicken cutting pieces into a half-inch dice.

Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Chill for at least four hours.

Serve stuffed in pita bread.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | sandwich | chicken salad | tuna salad

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Paisano: Tuna Casserole

Fish Tale



I was probably 26 at the time. I wasn't married but was living with my then-future and now-past wife. She and I met when I was managing Pier 1 Imports in Knoxville and I hired her as assistant manager.

For some reason, Cindy set her sights on me and within six months of hiring her we were living together. I know. This stinks of ex post facto nepotism, but at one time each of my brothers also worked for me and there was never any doubt in my mind nor anyone else's that the personal connection meant my brothers and then Cindy were held to higher and not lower standards at work.

At any rate, because Cindy was my assistant our schedules were four hours out of sync on most days and we only ate together twice a week. On this particular day we worked the same hours and stopped at the store to get something to fix for supper and, as we wandered the aisles, I had one of those flashes when an entire recipe appeared in my mind at once. Of all things, it was for tuna casserole.

The sour cream adds a tangy note and it doesn’t require a canned soup.

I'd certainly eaten my share of tuna casserole at home and at school when growing up and although I ate it I didn't particularly like it. I didn't like the pasty flavor cream of mushroom soup gave it. I didn't like the crumbled potato chips or French-fried onions that usually topped it. I didn't like the flavorless cheese that was typical -- if cheese was used at all. But for some reason I suddenly had an urge for tuna casserole and knew exactly how to correct the errors I'd seen in it before.

I quickly talked Cindy into it (for the most part, Cindy, who became a fine cook, learned cooking from me) and we bought all the ingredients. As I recall we spent around $12 dollars. That was a lot of money for us -- store management was essentially blue-collar work and didn’t pay worth a damn. In fact, our income that year, including the year-end bonus, was less than $15k. I called the dish "Rich Man's Tuna Casserole" and it was everything I'd hoped for. We almost ate it all that night.

The recipe below is essentially the same with the exception that originally I used Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup and now make my own. (Although, on rare occasions I still fall back on the canned stuff). Oddly enough, it costs very little more to make now than it did then, which is good because currently I make very little more now (all things considered) than I did then.

Tuna Casserole
Serves 6.

1 lb fresh mushrooms (I like a mixture of button, shitake, and portobello) — sliced
3 5.5 oz cans tuna (packed in oil if possible) — drained
1 1/2 c pimento-stuffed olives — sliced in half cross-ways
2 tbsp + 3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 c chicken stock
1 tbsp ground mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 c sour cream
8 oz sharp or extra-sharp cheddar — shredded
3 - 4 oz Asiago, Parmigiano, Romano, or Pecorino — shredded
12 oz extra-wide egg noodles

Heat oven to 400F. Drain tuna and slice olives.

Reduce stock in a medium saucepan over high heat to about 2 cups. Whisk in mustard, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Taste and adjust flavors. Set aside.

Place mushrooms in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and sprinkle generously with salt. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent burning, with a wooden spatula. When mushrooms begin to brown and give up their liquid, add 2 tablespoons butter and continue cooking until mushrooms are well-browned. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of stock and add mushrooms and deglazing liquid to remaining stock. Simmer 15 minutes.

In another medium saucepan melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 3 - 4 minutes. Vigorously whisk in hot stock and cook, stirring, until thickened. Add cheddar, a handful at a time, stirring after each addition until melted. Whisk in sour cream.

In the meantime, cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and return to pot.

When sauce is done add it, tuna, and olives to noodles and mix thoroughly. Pour into a large casserole dish and sprinkle with shredded Parmigiano.

Bake until top is browned and crisp -- about 25 minutes.

This casserole is richly flavored with a crisp/chewy crust. The sour cream adds a tangy note and it doesn’t require a canned soup. (Although, as I said, that works. Just use it to replace the mushrooms and stock mixture -- keep the cheese and sour cream.)

Technorati: Food | recipe | tuna casserole | casserole | tuna | comfort food | paisano

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