Tuna Melt Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 7 minutes per tuna melt
Makes: 4 - 6 toasties (depending on bread size)
Ingredients Needed
Tuna Melt Filling
- 425g/15oz tinned tuna in oil, drained well to end make 320g/11.3ozs tuna
- 160g/5.6ozs mayonnaise
- 130g/4.6ozs chipotle cucumber pickle chips, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons/30g/1oz finely diced celery
- 2 teaspoons pickle brine from above
- 2 tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
- 3 teaspoons baby capers, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
- 1-2 teaspoons red pepper or chilli powder (to taste)
- 60g/2ozs grated cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, tasty or gouda)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice optional
- salt and pepper
For Sandwiches
- 8 slices white sourdough bread, each slice buttered on both sides
- 8 slices American cheese (or your favourite melting cheese)
- 4 teaspoons oil
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 MIX - Make sure that the tuna is well drained of the oil. Place it in a medium sized bowl along with the mayonnaise, chopped pickles, celery, pickle brine, onion, capers, parsley, chilli powder, grated cheese and lemon juice. Use a large fork to break up the tuna chunks and to mix it all together to form a cohesive mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 2 TOAST - Place 1/4 of the mixture on one side of the buttered bread and place 2 slices of cheese on top. Place other buttered bread slice on top. Heat a frying pan or skillet on medium heat and drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil in the pan. Place the sandwich starting with the cheese side closest to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes until golden and the cheese starts to melt. Press down with a turner to compact the sandwich. Gently flip over the sandwich and toast on the other side for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Ensure that the cheese has melted completely. Cut in half and serve with chips.
Personal Note
I was inspired to make this tuna melt via a show I recently watched. It's called Heated Rivalry and it's a show that everyone seems to be obsessed with. It's a wonderful love story between two ice hockey players (one Canadian and one Russian) and the acting and the dialogue are so unique and special.
Heated Rivalry is an adaption of a book by Canadian author Rachel Reid by Canadian writer and director Jacob Tierney and stars Hudson Williams as Shane and Connor Storrie as Ilya. And I discovered there's a big genre of MM (male/male) sports romance fiction!
In one scene Ilya (the Russian hockey captain) makes Shane (the Canadian captain) a tuna melt. Now tuna melts aren't the most romantic food, they are comforting and tasty but they do smell a bit but tinned tuna is probably what athletes eat a lot of. It set off a craving in me of tuna melts!
Usually I don't watch shows over again and there are probably only five shows that I've ever watched twice. But after I devoured the six episodes, I watched the whole series a second and then a third time and a fourth time it's that good. And sometimes I'd watch the episodes while eating a tuna melt too!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you watched Heated Rivalry? Do you like tuna melts? And do you like making food from shows or movies to eat while watching them?