Tuna Pita

I'm sorry I didn't post in so long, but I'm pretty sure I can count my readers on one hand.

Level of Difficulty: Child

Story:
But, here's something that's evolved over the years: my tuna sandwich. I probably made my first one in 4th grade, so I've tweaked it a little here and there. Your typical tuna sandwich has mayo, relish, and tuna. You put it on two slices of bread and bam. It's delicious, but you can do so much more. I would add/remove different ingredients and use different breads until I figured out what I liked best. You can make your own variety based on what you want and that's what makes the tuna sandwich so fun. Also, it makes your breath smell GREAT.

What You Need: (10 servings)
a bowl, maybe a spatula
3 cans tuna
2 cups mayonnaise
3-4 spoons of dill relish
1 red onion, (3/4 should be diced, 1/4 sliced)
2 tomatoes, sliced
a few slices of cheese, preferably American
some greens (baby romaine works best, spring mix can work, too)
1 cucumber, sliced
1/4 cup dill weed
5 pocket pitas, cut in half or 10 flatbread pitas (no pockets)
You gotta click this picture so you can zoom in. Dale Earnhardt or someone is on the Mayonnaise bottle. Hilarious. Also, using fresh dill weed will be better, but it's fine to use dried dill weed. 

What You Do:
1) Open the cans of tuna and drain. Don't use your teeth or hands; it's too difficult (A can opener works best). Take your bowl and drop the tuna in there. Before you actually put in the other stuff, season the tuna with some salt and pepper and mix it a little. It might help flavor the tuna and you can also use this time to break apart the tuna to avoid large chunks.
* If you're like me (and most people aren't), you wonder, "What's the deal with all the different tuna at the store? Chunk Light? Solid Albacore? Starkist? Chicken of the Sea? So here's a brief explanation: chunk tuna has random pieces of tuna that are almost 'shredded' and then put in the can; solid tuna is closer to being an actual solid piece of the tuna. Now, with the brands: I've read that the name brands are actually worse than the house brands, i.e. Costco's Kirkland, Walmart, and Safeway. I like to buy white albacore tuna from Kirkland; I think it tastes better and cleaner than other types of tuna. It tends to be a bit more expensive, but we're talking a difference of $1.49 vs $1.09. Get the Solid Albacore.

2) Throw the mayo, relish, diced onions, and dill weed in with the tuna. If you want to put a little more or less of any of the ingredients, feel free to. But, you want to make sure there is enough mayo with the tuna. I know mayonnaise is really bad for you, but no one likes a dry tuna sammich. So, put more if you need to. However, be sure not to put TOO much mayo. You want the tuna to mix around easily enough with your spatula, but you don't want the tuna too mushy. Taste it and add some salt/pepper until you think it's pretty good.
I never use Miracle Whip with tuna. That's gross. Always mayonnaise. Light mayonnaise is fine, by the way. If I had more time, I'd make my own mayonnaise; I'll show you how to make it in a different blog. However, it might cause you to never want to eat mayonnaise again.

3) You want to warm up the pita bread. You can just microwave it for 10-15 seconds in a paper towel if you want, but it'll taste better if you heat it up on a fry pan for a minute or so. Just spray some Pam and heat up both sides so the pita is a light brown. Let the pita(s) cool for a bit before putting the tuna/vegetables in.
There are two main types of pita bread: the ones with a pocket and the ones without. The pocket pitas are easier to separate and form the 'pocket' shape. I forgot to check and I bought the 'other' kind of pita. That's fine, though; you can just fold the non-pocketed pita and still make this.


4) Now you're just going to put the ingredients in or on the pita and you're ready to eat. I don't think it really matters, but it's easiest to put the greens close to the tuna so they stay put. Just don't put too much or it won't close or fit everything in there. Enjoy!

Factoid:
Tuna are actually huge fish; some people assume they're small because they come in these small cans. The bluefin tuna is what we commonly find in cans; they grow to be about 1,000 pounds. The albacore are smaller and go at about 100 pounds; still, it is a pretty big fish.

How to Dice Tomatoes

When you put tomatoes with pasta or salsa, you don't want too much of the watery parts in the middle of the vegetable (yeah. vegetable). So, this is the easiest way to separate it.

1) Cut the ends. You can cut a smaller portion than I did, but my current knife sucks.



2) Then you want to cut into the tomato and start cutting around the 'core.' It's okay if you're cutting it thick.

3) You just keep going cutting in a circular direction (you can clockwise OR counterclockwise; it really doesn't matter) until you have the seeded and outer parts of the tomato separated. 

4) Lay the outer part flat and cut/ scrape off any of the seeds. I don't care what you do with the center. You can just take a few bites of it and then throw it away or save it for some gazpacho (Not posting a recipe for it. Sorry if you got excited).

5) So after the outer part of the tomato is clean and seedless, just cut and then dice away. Easier than a couple field goals unless you're Steelers Kicker Jeff Reed.

Factoid:


If you're like me, you noticed how Heinz Ketchup bottles point out the fact that their product is full of Lycopene, something found in tomatoes. The average person has no clue what Lycopene is, but the bottle also claims that the aforementioned chemical aids us in preventing cancer. In actuality, the USFDA deemed that Heinz' research was deemed insufficient of evidence for health claim approval. Doesn't mean tomatoes aren't delicious though. Just don't put ketchup on hot dogs if you're in Chicago.

Fusilli with Pesto and Sausage

Level of Difficulty: Noob


Story:
I was at Costco and saw some pesto sauce. I've had some pasta dishes and sandwiches with pesto and it's a great sauce to use in a variety of ways. So, I decided to take it home and work it with some ingredients and see what I could come up with.


What You Need: (2 servings)
A couple pots
2/3 c Pesto Sauce (basil, EVOO, pine nuts, other seasonings. it's good stuff)
1/2 box Fusilli (or any other pasta you want to use)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 Italian sausage
grated parmesan cheese
salt, pepper
EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)


What You Do:
1) Put enough water in a pot to have the sausage boil. Put enough water in another pot for the pasta. Salt the pasta water. Sausage the sausage water (put the sausage in).
* While you wait, you can cut up the tomatoes. Use only the outside 'meat' of the tomatoes. I'll show you what I mean in a blog later titled "How to Dice Tomatoes." Set tomatoes aside.


2) a. When the pasta water is boiling, put the pasta in. Reduce to medium heat. If you want, you can put some EVOO in there so it won't stick.
b. Wait. Like 10-12 minutes or whatever the pasta box says. You should take out one piece of pasta and bite it to make sure it's good to go. When the pasta is good to go, drain it and let it sit. 


3) Take out the sausage and slice it into coins. Put a bit of EVOO in the pot the pasta was in and then drop the sausage coins. You want it to brown just a bit. If you don't want to use more oil, you can just fry em on a nonstick pan.
* It's kinda oily and the Pesto already has EVOO, so here's a good way to get some of that outta there. Turn off heat, grab a couple paper towels, and put the paper towels in the pot and dab the bottom of the pot and sausages until it's relatively dry.


4) Return the pasta to the pot. Mix in the pesto sauce. Use a lot. Get a pinch of salt and a few pinches of pepper in there. Turn heat to low and mix for a minute or two. Turn heat off and mix in tomatoes. You don't want them to be TOO soft.


5) Throw the food on the plate, get some nice pieces of grated parmesan on top. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper and you're good to go.
* You can put in some garlic or even onions, too. You probably wanna get them in there at the same time the sausage coins go in. You can put some fresh basil on the side as garnish if you want to be all artistic in plating.

Factoid:
Fusilli - I like using fusilli, which means "little spindles", because it's thicker than rotini and has a better texture to it.