One of the hardest parts about cooking for yourself is deciding what to cook. I don’t know about you, but my biggest obstacle is that I’m always trying to think of something complex with multiple courses. I ignore the simple pleasures.
Like a good, cozy tuna melt sandwich.
Yet this is Korea. How can I make it unique?
So, here is where my constantly developing tuna salad recipe currently stands. I combine two cans of hot pepper tuna with, half a finely diced onion, finely diced sweet pickles, a few finely diced olives, some lemon juice, and enough mayonnaise to hold it all together. I then chill it in the fridge to let the flavors come together.
I like my grilled sandwiches to be toasted on the inside and outside, so there’s a strategy to this that I learned when I cooked at a place that specialized in double-decker grilled cheese sandwiches. First, have some slices of cheese on the ready. Processed is fine. I have been using that coveted cheddar and sharp cheddar I recently found at E-Mart. Also have four pats of butter ready to go, along with two slices of bread.
I heat up the skillet on medium heat and put a pat of butter on bread slice #1. I place #1 butter side down and move it around to evenly melt the butter around the bread. While it’s grilling, I put a pat of butter on the exposed side of #1. When the bottom is toasty, I flip it over and quickly add slice #2, butter side down. On the toasted upper side of #1, I place the cheese and tuna mixture on top to start heating and melting.
Here’s the part that requires skill. When #2 is toasted on one side, I place the toasted side on top of the tuna and cheese with the untoasted side exposed. I now have a sandwich that is 3/4 toasted. I place the final pat of butter on the untoasted side and carefully flip it over.
When the whole sandwich is toasted, I place it on a cutting board and cut it diagonally. This sandwich goes great with any kind of soup — especially a Korean soup.