Still Watching the Wallet

There are conflicting reports on how long the recession will last.  Are we still in it, are we exiting it, will we be in a recession for another year?  All I know, is that I have to watch my wallet.  Lucky (or unlucky) for me, the husband monitors all of our spending.  It makes it hard to sneak in a pair of shoes unless I pay cash.  However, I am digressing. 

It seems to be a trend in cooking to make meals that won't break the budget.  Cooking Light has been pretty good at offering tips to save at the grocery store.  I also noticed this trend continuing in the pages of the September 2009 issue of Food and Wine.  Though the feature article was not named in a way to suggest that it was saving its readers money, it was about sandwiches.  Sandwiches save money. 

Sandwiches also are great dinner when you want to save time.  This is perfect for me as I no longer have a short 15-20 minute commute home.  I simply can not make time intensive dinners during the week any longer.  Hence a recent uptick in the use of the slow cooker and eating sandwiches.  However, I am not going to make any old sandwich with a few slices of deli meat and cheese.  I like sandwiches with a twist, something that is filling and tastes great. 

The recipe that I found in Food and Wine for a tuna melt serves this purpose.  This isn't your mother's tuna melt that only has mayo in it and is thrown on an English muffin and topped with cheese.  This tuna has little bits of red onion, fresh basil, a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, served a toasted ciabatta bread.  It is fabulous and a quick meal!


OregonTuna Melt (adapted from Food and Wine September 2009)
Printable Recipe
12 oz. canned albacore tuna packed in water
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 loaf ciabatta bread, cut for four sandwiches
dijon mustard and mayonnaise for spreading
4 slices of Swiss cheese

1. In a medium bowl, mix the tuna with the onion, olive oil, vinegar, basil and crushed red pepper.  Season with salt and pepper. 
   
2. Spread mayonnaise and dijon mustard on top of each piece of bread.  Place 1/4 of tuna mixture on four slices of bread, top each with one slice of cheese.
3. Place bread halves in a toaster oven and leave it in until cheese starts to melt.  Place the bread half that only has mustard and mayo on top of the half with bread.

Yield: 4 servings