Tuna Can Taste Great!

Fish. I love a limited variety of fish. Salmon and Tuna, that's about it. Every once in a while I will eat shrimp, depending on how it is cooked. This may be detrimental to my health because fish contains a great deal of nutrients that are essential to body. Omega fatty acids, also classified as Essential Fatty Acids, are fats that are necessary to get from food, because our bodies cannot synthesize them. Omega 3 and Omega 6 are the two families of "EFAs". Omega 3 is fortunately found in both salmon and tuna (albacore). Omega 6 on the other hand can be found in many types of oils derived from seeds or nuts such as walnut oil, sunflower oil, or many types of seeds.

I wanted to give a recipe today, because I made this particular one out of tuna last night, and I think it is simple, easy, and full of nutrients. It can also be applied in different ways, in this case it will be as a tuna melt.

Not-So-Tuna Melts

Ingredients:
1 can albacore tuna in water
1 celery stalk (~8 inches)
1/2 small red onion
Handful of mixed "greens"
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tsp. Essence of Emeril
2 slices whole wheat bread
1 oz. your favorite meltable cheese; or 1 tbsp. parmigiana/Romano cheese

In a sink, drain your tuna, and add to a medium sized bowl. Add your mayo and spice to the tuna.

On a cutting board, chop your red onion (small pieces, the smaller, they less your breath will smell), cut your "greens" finely, and cut your celery stalk lengthwise 3 or 4 times, then chop. Add all these ingredients (which should be comparable sizes) to the tuna, and mix with a fork. Use the fork to mince the pieces of tuna until they are string-like, this will ensure that the whole dish is mixed well, and that you don't have pieces of tuna that are disproportionate.

Pre-heat your oven (or toaster oven) to 400 degrees. Spoon the tuna mixture onto your slices of bread (toast them if you wish) and then put your meltable cheese on top (if you decide to use parm or Romano, put it on after the melt has cooked). Put your tuna slices into the oven and let them cook for about 8 minutes or until your cheese is melted (again, parm or Romano will be added when it comes out of the oven). Once this is done, eat and enjoy! This meal is meant for one person, but definitely can be spread across more than 2 slices of bread. I believe it is possible to make about 6 slices our of it, but I like it all on top of two. This all takes about 20 minutes to complete, or less.

You can put any type of cheese on top, it is completely up to you. You can eat is as a sandwich, or as just a salad. What I like most about this particular way of making tuna salad is that it does not rely on a lot of tuna (tuna is very high in mercury, each serving of tuna has double the required amount of mercury you need on a daily basis; limit your intake of tuna to twice per week and even less if you eat lots of fish). This dish also had a lot of color, which distinguishes is greatly from many of the tuna salads I have seen. I like getting my vegetables in this manner, because they balance well with the tuna. I hope you enjoy this easy dish. It is quick to make, and doesn't really require any energy if you opt out of cooking it in the oven. Enjoy!