This week, we tested a tuna fish sandwich recipe from My Tartare, that Derek says was inspired by Geoffrey Zakarian.
I love tuna salad sandwiches, and let me tell you why. When I was maybe 20, I was helping out one of my college professors with some yard work, because that’s just the kind of guy that I am. She asked if I wanted a sandwich, and what seemed like a mere minute later, produced the first amazing tuna fish sandwich I’d ever had. How’d she do that so fast? Here’s the thing: all she’d done was dump a small can of tuna in oil onto a thick slice of rustic white bread, slathered another piece of bread with a ton of mayo and threw the sandwich together. The oil dripped onto my fingers as I ate it. And it was mind-blowingly fantastic. Years later, while vacationing along the Brittany coast in la France profonde, I visited some small fishing villages where fresh Atlantic tuna is canned in tomato sauce, herbs, lemon, or white wine. Each of them is exquisite right from the can. Why, in the most prosperous country in the world, all we know is tuna in water, is beyond me. Wealth does not translate into good taste. (Case in point: Donald Trumpery.) Perhaps it’s my memory of that vacation that prevents me from buying canned US tuna often, but I nonetheless sometimes crave increasingly-hard-to-find tuna in oil.
This tuna salad recipe will freak you out. It is unlike any other. The flavors seem to come at you from all sides, and the texture of the bun adds tremendously to the overall effect. If I ever have an over-achieving student doing my yard work, this is what I’ll serve him.
What You Need to Serve 4:
1/4 cup minced red onion (from about 1/4 of a large red onion)
1/4 cup quartered Kalamata olives (about 10 olives)
2 Peppadew peppers, minced
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. mustard powder
1/4 tsp. chipotle powder
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2-3/4 tsp. salt
5 Tbs crumbled Feta cheese
6 Tbs mayonnaise
Juice from 1/2 lemon (about 1 Tbs)
2 cans (5 oz. each), tuna fish in olive oil
4 pretzel buns, sliced
1 Tbs butter
4 small slices iceberg lettuce
3 Tbs chives for garnish
Abbreviated Directions (for the full directions, see My Tartare):
Mix onions, olives, peppadews, spices, mayo, cheese, and lemon. Add tuna. Season to taste. Grill your buns. Build sandwich with lettuce, tuna, chives. It will taste about exactly as good tomorrow as it does today, so feel free to make it ahead.
Notes:
If you can’t find Peppadew, substitute sweet cherry peppers (pickled) + a pinch of red pepper flakes. Increase the red pepper flakes to 1/4 tsp., and you’ll get a really eye-popping, well-pronounced kick. Grilling the buns is admittedly bad-ass. But toasting them isn’t such a bad alternative. A large can of tuna weighs 12 oz., which is a little more than called for, but you can balance that by adding a bit more mayo and correcting the spices. Tuna in water: yuck. If that’s what you happen to have, though, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve, then press down on the tuna to remove as much of the water as you can. Get it dry. Then add it to the mixing bowl, and chase it with two tsp. of olive oil. Rather than whole leaves of lettuce, shave off some of the thinnest slices you can from the head, and use those. It’s neater, and provides a better crunch.
Horseradish makes a fantastic addition. Add it to taste. The salad will take on a far more complex quality. You’ll think you’re eating smoked whitefish or trout salad. If you want to, you can make a funky little appetizer: start with some serious, whole-grain bread … the kind that comes in 6 x 3 bricks, and whose slices are as dense as drywall. Cut slices into 1-inch squares. Cut a few lettuce slices into matchsticks. Lay a couple matchsticks across a square of bread, plop a dollop of horseradishized tuna salad onto each one, garnish with chive, and top with 1/2 of a cherry (grape) tomato.
You can add mustard too (or instead); it will have effect of making the salad taste a lot more like a homemade sandwich spread.
In Our Opinion:
This is a fantastic recipe, Derek. 
(5 / 5)
Pretzel Tuna Fish Sandwich
This content was not solicited, sponsored, or written in exchange for anything. I did consult mermaids about which brand of tuna is the best, but my opinions are still my own, because I’m both thick-headed and egotistical.
Keep up with us on Bloglovin’
See Also:
Tuna de France
That looks incredible Jeff! Love the pretzel bun pairing!
Jana, you should make this! It’s totally doable.
Oh yeah, I could totally get on board with this sandwich! I just finished lunch, and now I want to go back and eat lunch again…except it will consist of this tuna fish sammich. With horseradish. Because horseradish is awesome. (I also pronounce is horshradish.) But helping your college professor in her yard…and then she offers you some food…that sounds like the beginning of a bad movie! Hah!
David @ Spiced recently posted…Vanilla Cherry Tarts
Come to think of it, my college career was kind of like a bad movie…
I am in 100% agreement about packed in oil. I often buy an Italian brand that’s packed in olive oil and (as you say) discovered that the less you do to it the better. Sometimes I merely give the tuna a spritz of lemon. GREG
Exactly!
Tuna salad always reminds me of when I was in elementary school – my mom used to send me to school with sandwiches made of fun… I was NOT the girl people wanted to trade food with.
GiGi Eats recently posted…This ICE Is Nuts
Awww … that’s kind of adorable and sad all at the same time. I always think it’d be fun to pack a tuna sandwich and open it up on a plane. That, and maybe a really ripe brie.
Now I’m mad that I have so many cans of tuna packed in water in my pantry! The sandwich that you so perfectly describe from your professor is killing me. It doesn’t take much to have an exquisite foodie moment, does it? But your recipe – on that pretzel bun – gorgeous!
Thanks! I know what you mean. It’s harder and harder to find tuna in oil.
We’ve become so obsessed with fat in this country. Tuna in water has NO FLAVOR. Whereas oil-packed tuna is wonderful. I worked in NYC for about a decade, and many of the delis there had little bitty can of tuna fish. Want a tuna sandwich? They’d open the can, dollop in some mayo, then spread it on the bread. Took them maybe 20 seconds to make a sandwich — and SO good. Anyway, terrific post — thanks.
John/Kitchen Riffs recently posted…Curried White Bean and Pasta Salad
You’re welcome, John. Very interesting to hear about your NY experience. The tuna sandwich I described, which was made like that, was such an eye-opener.
Creamy tuna salad on a nice pretzel bun is all that I need now. This looks insanely delicious!
Rahul @samosastreet.com recently posted…Mini Butter Chicken Pizza
Thanks!
For whatever reason I have not had a tuna fish sandwich for ages. I usually slather it with dijon, herbs and spices as I detest mayonnaise… alas Dave is the opposite and loves mayo. The peppadew and feta in this sounds great. Can’t even think where to find canned tuna in oil these days. Now I need to leave my desk and go get lunch… thanks Jeff. 🙂
Kevin | Keviniscooking recently posted…Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus
🙂
Flavoured canned tuna is pretty huge here and the options are almost endless. to crazy flavour combinations, but ones that you can simply open and toss into a sandwich or over a salad. Although I prefer to flavour it my own ways like you have here. Delicious!
How cool.
tinned tuna – one of my husbands favourite – if and when fresh fish in a hurry is not around. As a Karalite he HAS to have his daily dose of fish and so, this is always a good light evening meal for him!!! 🙂 Will have to make your recipe for him this week – I guaranty this will bring a smile on his face:) 🙂 – thanks Jeff – Carina
Carina Simeon recently posted…Mughal Kadhai Tender Mutton……
I bet he’ll love it!
Just need to get the pretzel rolls and it sounds like I’m going to have a delicious lunch real soon.
🙂
You nailed! Awesome work!
Thanks, man! You’re the one who nailed it, though!
My mouth is watering terribly….totally love the use of pretzel bun to sandwich my favourite salad. Well done, chef!
Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted…Spelt Almond Bakewell Slices
🙂
I love tuna and this sandwich seems finger-licking! Great recipe, Jeff!
Agness of Run Agness Run recently posted…5 Of The Best Warm Up Stretches To Do Before You Start Your Jog
Thank you!
This tuna fish sandwich looks yummy 🙂
Thanks!