Learning to Love Tuna

When I was sixteen, or even twenty, had you told me there'd come a time when I'd crave a tuna fish sandwich, I'd have called you crazy. I remember gagging when a high school boyfriend forced me to take a bite of his mom's "famous" mayo-heavy tuna fish sandwich. In college, I'd make my roommate sit in the hall to eat the tuna and cracker snack packs she loved.

I know now that the problem wasn't me, it was the fish and the mayo. Water packed Chicken of Sea doused in Miracle Whip is nothing like the olive oil packed solid tuna lightly dressed with balsamic vinaigrette that graces the sandwich you see above. I've found a favorite brand at Fairway--Flott--imported from Sicily. Not local, and I'm sure full of mercury, but I'm addicted. In addition to sandwiches, I'm partial to a salad of canned cannelini beans, tuna, jarred roasted bell peppers, maybe some green onions. On Sunday nights it's easy to fix a couple containers of the mixture for a couple of weekly lunches, or on a busy school night, dinner's ready in a flash.