Author Notes
My grandma used to make me tuna melts sometimes as an after-school snack with lots of mayo and pita bread. She served them up with milk.
These open-faced tuna melts are also tasty and comforting but very different. This came together quickly using what we had in the kitchen. A baguette makes this seem like much more than a sandwich straight from a brown paper bag. The tuna is a little spicy from the sriracha.
But of course, all you see here are onions. Piles of sweet, sweet brown onions. Caramelized onions make everything better. The sweet and spicy mix here is good. —Ileana Morales Valentine
Ingredients
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2 packets
albacore tuna (2.6 ounces each)
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1-2 tablespoons
mayonnaise
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1 tablespoon
coarse ground mustard, plus more for spreading on bread
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1 tablespoon
Sriracha, plus more for spreading on bread
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2
scallions, chopped
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1
baguette, enough for two sandwiches
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2 ounces
Gruyere cheese
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20
pearl onions, or one or two regular size onions
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8
shallots
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1 tablespoon
butter
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1
drizzle of olive oil
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1 pinch
salt
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2 pinches
pepper
Directions
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Peel and slice the shallots. Blanch the pearl onions in a pot of boiling water. Let the onions cool before popping off the outer layers. Slice the onions.
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Put about a tablespoon of butter and a drizzle of oil in a skillet on low heat. Add the sliced shallots and onions with a pinch of salt. Let them sweat for a while, up to an hour. The onions will get soft and brown. They get sweeter and better the longer you let them caramelize. If you just can’t take it any longer, throw in a big pinch of brown sugar to speed them up.
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Meanwhile cut a baguette into two pieces for the sandwiches, about 6 inches each. Slice each piece of bread in half vertically. Scoop out some of the inside of the bread to make room for the filling.
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In a bowl, use a fork to mix tuna, mayo, mustard, Sriracha, a drizzle of olive oil, and some pepper. Taste to see if you’d like to add more of Sriracha or something else. Mix in the chopped scallions.
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Turn on the broiler.
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Spread mustard and a bit more Sriracha onto the slices of bread. Scoop the tuna into all four slices of baguette. Top with slices of cheese. Cook the sandwiches under the broiler for just a minute or two to melt the cheese.
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Top off the sandwiches with the caramelized onions and a garnish of chopped scallions. Serve immediately.
Ileana shares recipes, stories + cookbook reviews on her blog, A Little Saffron, and as a correspondent for the Tampa Bay Times.
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