Crunchy Tuna Salad Baguette

I have always had a great fondness for Tuna Salad Sandwiches. Tuna wasn't something that my mother used to buy to make us sandwiches with. She had a thing for canned Salmon. If we were going to have a fish sandwich at all, it was with canned Salmon.

Then in Grade Eight I happened to taste my first Tuna Salad Sandwich. A friend of mine had them in her lunch and she didn't fancy them and so I said I would try them. I fell in love then and there.

I did manage to convince my mother to buy tuna once in a while after that, but it always remained a very rare treat. Salmon being her preference. When my mother passed away my sister had to get rid of countless tins of out of date salmon that my mother had stored.
Whenever they were on offer my mother would pick up a couple tins, whether she needed it or not, and of course in, her later years, they just did not ever get used.

Don't get me wrong. I do like tinned salmon every now and then. I use it to make Salmon Patties and Salmon loaf. Both are favorites of mine.

I also love a good French Canadian Salmon Pie. That is something which is high on my list of things I love to eat.
I am just not particularly fond of it in sandwiches. If I am going to have fish in a sandwich like that, for me, it has to be tuna.

This recipe which I am sharing today was inspired by one I found on the New York Times recipe site and is attributed to Naz Deravlan. The recipe was for a delicious sounding tuna salad sandwich using dill pickles and a tasty mix of herbs.
What I really liked about it was not the herbs so much as the use of potato chips to give some added crunch! I have often enjoyed potato chips on the side of my tuna sandwiches, but not in my tuna sandwich. It sounded really delicious!

The original recipe made four sandwiches. I adapted it to make only one demi baguette sandwich which would feed to regular eaters. A man might be able to eat the whole lot in one go however.
Having said that, as well, you don't want to be adding any potato chips to the sandwich until just before you go to eat the sandwich as they will go soggy. You have been warned.
But eaten right away, this sandwich is a gorgeous mix of delicious tuna salad and potato chip crunch. In a lovely chewy sour dough baguette, it was heavenly with just the right amount of crunch and tastiness!

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE A CRUNCHY TUNA SALAD BAGUETTE
Simple ingredients. Make sure you use the best you can afford. In a sandwich like this, it really matters.

1 (5 oz) can of solid albacore tuna in water, drained and flaked
1/4 cup (50g) real mayonnaise
1 TBS dill pickle relish
1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 spring onion, trimmed and finely chopped
1 tsp dried dill
1 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp fine ground black pepper
1 good quality demi-baguette
softened butter
potato chips to serve (ready salted are nice, but so are cheese and onion!)

An old Italian Nonna in a grocery store in London, Ontario, told me over 40 years ago that anything but Albacore Tuna was garbage. I heeded her advice and have only been eating white albacore tuna ever since. It really does have the nicest flavor.
When it comes to mayonnaise, if I am not using homemade I always use Hellman's and that is not a plug for their product. It has the nicest flavor and is quite simply always my mayonnaise of choice. I hear Duke's is also very good if you can get it.

If you have fresh dill, by all means use that. I did not so I used dry. Fresh lemon juice really adds a nice flavor, and here is where I would definitely use extra virgin olive oil. This an occasion when the flavor of it will really shine through.
I used dill pickle relish because I think it has a bit of a sweeter flavor than regular dill pickles. If you don't have dill pickle relish then use regular sweet hot dog relish. I can promise you it will taste really good.
Use a good quality fresh baguette. It also really matters, and when it comes to potato chips, use the freshest crunchiest ones you can find. A kettle chip is really nice. Ready Salted are ideal, but I think cheese and onion are also very nice as are salt and vinegar. At the end of the day, just use your favorite flavor. I wouldn't be using ketchup or BBQ though. To me that just sounds wrong!

HOW TO MAKE CRUNCHY TUNA SALAD BAGUETTE
Nothing could be easier. I don't like to chop my veggies too awfully small. Neither do you want them left too large. Somewhere in the middle is ideal!

Flake the well drained tuna into a bowl with a fork and mash it well together.Add the mayonnaise, pickle relish, chopped celery, spring onion, dill weed lemon juice and oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Split your baguette in half horizontally. Butter both cut sides with softened butter.Pile the tuna salad onto the bottom half of the buttered baguette, spreading it out evenly. Top off with your potato chips and then the baguette top. Squash down a tiny bit, and cut in half.Serve immediately.

The amount of mayonnaise I have suggested is only that, a suggestion. I would add half the amount first with everything else and then see if you need any more. You don't want your sandwich to be too sloppy.
If you are a singleton, you can remove the chips from one half of the baguette, wrap it tightly and store it in the refrigerator for the next day. That is what I did. Yes, I did eat the chips I removed. No, I did not add any more the next day. I just ate it plain.

This was a really, REALLY good sandwich. It had never dawned on me before to add a layer of potato chips to my tuna salad sandwich and I don't know why. The two together were sublimely delicious.
I highly recommend!

Some other tuna sandwich recipes which you might really enjoy that I have posted on here are:

THE CLASSIC TUNA MELT - A favorite toasted sandwich composed of a tasty tuna filling and plenty of melted cheese, sandwiched between buttery toasted bread. I also have an Air Fryer Tuna Melt that is really nice.

PIZZA TUNA BURGERS - Something I learned how to make in Grade 9 Home Economics. They were really good then and they are really good now! A delicious tuna mixture is spooned on top of halved English Muffins and topped with cheese and pimento stuffed olives before grilling. Great for lunch with veggie sticks or for supper with a hot cup of Tomato soup!

Yield: 2Author: Marie Rayner