Tuna salad, chicken salad, and egg salad are staples in my house, and they are almost always made better with melted cheese. (The first time I tasted an "egg salad melt" — just recently — was a revelation!) I usually throw any one of these together as a dinner afterthought, until it dawned on me that they could use some special attention. The classic tuna melt was first in line for a makeover, with homemade olive oil mayonnaise and salty Parmesan taking it from good to great!
I love to make homemade mayonnaise if I need to up the "awesome" factor. I have experimented with my recipe a lot over the years and at this point I pretty much have it down to a science. Most recipes tell you to use a blender or food processor, but the small quantity of ingredients never seems to get emulsified (it always hides under the blades.) I find that using a hand mixer is the best way to get the job done.
I also transfer whatever oil I'm using to a squeeze bottle for quick and painless dripping; it's much easier than trying to blend and pour from a measuring cup at the same time. I usually make mayonnaise with all canola oil, but for this batch I added a fruity, mellow olive oil to pair with the tuna.
As for the tuna salad, the mayonnaise really does most of the work here, but hardboiled eggs, capers, parsley, and a squeeze of lemon all help to brighten up the final dish. I piled the tuna salad on slices of toasted French baguette, and finished it off under the broiler with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan (an addition that was a million miles ahead of its American cheese counterpart). I'd say the old deli counter classic just got a run for its money!
Tuna Melts with Olive Oil Mayonnaise & Parmesan
Serves 2For the mayonnaise:
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup good-quality, smooth olive oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
For the tuna melts:
2 5-ounce cans good-quality tuna, preferably wild caught, such as Wild Planet
3 tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise
1 hardboiled egg, chopped
1 tablespoon capers, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped Italian parsley
Lemon juice, to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 toasted baguette slices
Grated Parmesan cheese, to taste
For the mayonnaise, whisk the egg yolk, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, and a pinch of salt in a medium sized bowl.
Using a hand held mixer on medium speed, mix the egg yolk mixture while slowly adding 1/4 cup of the olive oil, drop by drop, until the mixture becomes light and thick (this can take a couple of minutes). After adding the initial 1/4 cup of olive oil, the mayonnaise should be stable and emulsified; add the remaining olive oil and canola oil in a slow, steady stream until it is thick and fluffy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
For the tuna melts, heat the broiler. Drain the tuna and thoroughly pat dry. Combine tuna, mayonnaise, egg, capers, and parsley. Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Divide tuna salad among the four bread slices. Top with shredded Parmesan and run under the broiler for 1 to 4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
Recipe Notes
This recipe makes more mayonnaise than the tuna melts recipe calls for. Any extra can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week. Use for making just about anything taste better!
Related: Recipe: Cashew Chicken Salad Wraps
(Images: Nealey Dozier)
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Elizabeth Apron fro...
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
I love a tuna melt...mine has to have a tomato...the melted cheese has to be on the tomato...it's my OCD tuna melt.
@Kim - Oh yeah!
Hmm... I usually think we worry way to much about food safety and I let things go long past the "recommended" time and still use them if they seem okay. But I was under the impression that homemade mayo with unpasteurized eggs is one of the few things you really do have to be careful about? I had heard that even in the fridge, you'll get 4-5 days out of it, tops, and then really should toss the rest. Is this incorrect? I'd honestly love to know, since the alleged short shelf-life is one of the few things that keeps me from making homemade mayo more often. Can it really go out to two weeks safely?
We do grilled tuna sandwiches, no cheese. Make the sandwich, melt a reasonably generous amount of butter on the griddle, and cook each side until as toasty as you like. Mmm. I'm sure the homemade mayo is delicious, but I use the shortcut of Trader Joe's all natural "French Village" mayonnaise.
That's a good question, babygrace. We're a little unsure about this as well. We have seen lots of conflicting advice about storing homemade mayo. Some people think that the acid in the recipe helps preserve it for a long time; others are more cautious. We're adjusting to say 1 week here, but of course, always sniff and toss if anything seems off.
Readers, any advice on this? What's your take on storing homemade mayo?
I'm Belgian. We only have unpasteurized eggs here. And we have lots of recipes with raw eggs. Adding a raw egg yolk to mashed potatoes or rice pudding is typical and is even given to small children. My mother always made mayonnaise. We have never had food poisoning. Vinegar is a natural preservative. Use very fresh eggs. Keep the mayo refrigerated, only take out what you need. It should keep for about a week or 2 at least. Color change or change of smell indicate the mayo is off. Anyway, I prefer a quality commercial mayo (no preservatives, no additives, just the basic ingredients). But if I am out, I know how to make it :)
I'm not sure if it helps really, but if I am using a raw egg I wash it before breaking it open. Store eggs may already be washed, but it is a small step that gives me peace of mind.
When I was living in Ecuador, my work friends would make their homemade mayo for tuna sandwiches using the oil which the tuna was packed in with a toss of cilantro, red onion, and green pepper. I could have eaten that stuff with a spoon, but I resisted (I did however, always get in a few good tastes scrapes the bowl with my fingers before doing the dishes...yum!).
I always have homemade mayo in the fridge. We've never had problems with it lasting in good condition for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
As angelinethebaker noted, I always wash the egg shell before breaking open the egg, and I use the entire egg in the mayo. Our eggs are unpasteurised.
One thing to keep in mind is that the mayo MUST be kept cold. This means that I take out the container to make sandwiches, and then it goes immediately back into the fridge BEFORE any sandwich-eating takes place. If someone wants a dollop of mayo for their veggies or whatever at mealtime, then a generous dollop is put into a small bowl and set on the table for use. Whatever is left over from that meal is THROWN AWAY. The main container of the mayo stays in the fridge. Period.
Yet another coincidence...been hearing a lot about how bad store-bought mayo is. I found a recipe that calls for olive oil AND coconut oil! Definitely going to try this...
Tried it for lunch (with a few tweaks - didn't have Dijon nor did I have an Parmesan so it was ground brown mustard and sharp, sharp white cheddar.) Hubby gave it a B+ and I liked it too! Very satisfying!
Well it *does* say up to a week. And really, that's not so much mayo that would last longer than a week, is it? Just make sure your family eats it up for lunches, and you'll be fine! :)
There is a brand of eggs in shells that are pasteurized -- I'm pretty sure their distribution is nationwide -- so you can use those raw for peace of mind. However, around here (Chicago area) they run about $4.50/dozen for the large size, and to me that is just too high a premium to pay when I can get eggs on special for 99 cents.
As for storage, whenever I've made mayo, it's usually only been an amount small enough for whatever recipe I was preparing, so I didn't have leftovers to worry about.
Being from the South, I do have a story about homemade mayo, though. :)
After my father-in-law passed away some years ago, many visitors came by my mother-in-law's house with gifts of food. One day, the doorbell rang, and I happened to be closest, so I answered it. A friend of the family was standing there, a quart-sized jar in hand.
I called my mother-in-law over to the door to greet her visitor, who informed all of us standing there that she was bestowing us a gift of a quart of homemade mayonnaise. If she had left it at that, things would have been fine ... however, right before she left, she commented that "Now, keep an eye on it -- it'll turn back on you!"
The five of us all looked at each other with alarm, then burst out laughing. None of us were brave enough to try what was, in hindsight, possibly pretty good mayo.
I use homemade mayo pretty much exclusively and never worry about the raw egg component. I think the worry is overblown, in my totally unprofessional opinion. I use it for weeks.