Tuna Salad

Tuna salad is equally delicious and gross. It can go so right, and it can go so wrong. The past two weekends it has gone right. I've made two batches that were crunchy, zesty, and full of flavor. And then I saw some at a sandwich shop and threw up a little in my mouth because it looked and sort of smelled like something that my mom's cats enjoy eating.

Good tuna salad is very easy to make. There are two guidelines to follow, in my opinion:
1) Less mayo = more awesome salad. The ratio of mayo to everything else is NOT 1:1. It is more like 1:4. Too much mayo makes for a wet, soggy, tasteless mess.
2) It needs some crunch in it, otherwise you may as well be eating cat food. Texture is half the battle.

Here is my recipe for a delicious tuna salad. Put on any type of bread, cracker, or just plain lettuce.

First, make your own mayo. Yes, I said it, make your own. Actually, make your own aiolli, because it is better for you and has a lot more flavor. (Here is your quick fact for the day - mayo is made of egg and vegetable oil, aiolli with egg and olive oil.) Take the yolk of one large egg and beat it just a bit with a whisk. Add a drop or two of olive oil and whisk together quickly. Add a few drops more and whisk. Add a few drops more, whisk. Add a splash and whisk. Your arm should start to get tired. Don't be a wuss, keep whisking. Add another splash or two. Whisk. Splash, whisk, splash, whisk. As you are doing this, you should see the oil disappear into the yolk. If you can see the oil in the bowl, you aren't whisking enough. Really put some elbow grease into it. All told, you should add about a quarter cup of oil. When you get to that point, add a healthy pinch of salt, whisk, and then taste. It will probably need more salt. I like my mayo a little thin, so I add some more oil. When it starts to taste really good and get thick, then squeeze in some fresh lemon, usually one half if it is juicy. Whisk this in really well, as it will add a lot of flavor and thin out the mix a bit. Taste it again just to make sure it is how you like it. It won't look like Miracle Whip; it will be a lot yellower in color. Next, add a clove of super-finely chopped garlic, or put a clove through a press and whisk it in. Add a healthy dose of red pepper flakes and set the mayo to the side. By the way, you just made real mayonnaise. You should be proud of yourself. Congratulations. And you will never again want to eat anything that comes out of a jar, especially when you look at the other additional ingredients that are in there. Next time, play around with the spices and make something new. I've had a curry aiolli that I just love, for example.

Anyways, on with the tuna salad....

Dice half a red onion and slice a few stalks of celery. Drain the water (not oil!) from two small cans of tuna. Add to the onion and celery. Add salt and lots of black pepper, then dump the whole mix into your mayo and mix it together. Squeeze the other half of the lemon in. Take a bite, and adjust the spices as needed.
The next step is very important, so make sure you leave time for this: cover the bowl and let it sit in your fridge before you dig in. The flavors will marry and become more pronounced. Mike actually figured this out for me on accident. We had a little left over after sammies and he went back later that same day to eat the rest and it was a lot better than the first time. Wait at least half an hour to eat it, up to a few hours. I would caution against leaving it overnight, mostly because your fridge will smell like tuna, and that is gross.

Question of the day: which salad do you prefer and why: tuna, egg, chicken, or potato salad?

Green Fruit

Hello faithful followers. Thanks for your patience, as it has been a little longer than I like since I last posted. There is food reason for it - I haven't really cooked much lately. We've had a demanding social schedule over the last few weeks (which you can catch up on here) and so the quantity of time I've been in the kitchen has dropped dramatically. And when I have been in the kitchen recently, it has been spent preparing some of my old standbys, with which I wasn't going to bore you.

I prepared one of my favorite standby snacks yesterday. It was inspired by a restaurant-made guacamole; you know the kind that they make right there at your table? Some do it better than others, but they are all better than the kind you buy in a plastic container in the deli isle of your local grocer. Avocados were on sale earlier in the week, and though unripe at the time, by yesterday they were perfectly soft and bright green. I smashed up two to the point where they were mushy (yes, a technical term) but still had enough chunks in them so as not to feel like you were eating baby food. I then diced up a small shallot and half a jalapeño pepper (seeds and spines removed so it's not so hot that it overpowers the avocados.) Add the juice of a lime, seasoned salt, pepper, and mix together. I often add a bit of fresh cilantro and diced plum tomatoes too, but didn't have them on hand this go around. Guacamole is one of my favorite condiments... or is it a salad or chutney? I'm not sure on that. Nonetheless, its creamy texture, semi-sweet fruit, and the crunch that the onion and pepper provides make it the perfect compliment to both chips and anything spicy.

Question of the Day: I once had Bananas Foster prepared table-side, flames and all. What is your favorite table-side prepared food and where do they do it?