Tuna Club Sandwich and the advantages of old fashioned traveling
When I visit my mother I usually take the train as I prefer to cross the country on the ground rather than in the air. I like this old fashioned, slow kind of traveling, when you see the different landscapes passing by, the busy train stations, cities and villages flying passed your window. You really feel the distance and enjoy the changes instead of just getting it done.
My choice of transportation has another advantage. Before I jump on my train back home, my mother and I follow one of our many traditions, this one started many years ago. We have a cappuccino, a glass of wine or champagne and a little snack at an elegant hotel right opposite the city's famous, nearly 800 year old cathedral. Most of the time we sit right next to the windows of the hotel's old fashioned bistro, always amazed by the sight of the imposing gothic building which seems to grow right into the sky. Sometimes we sit at the bar, on leather covered bar stools, surrounded by a couple strangers reading newspapers, served by waiters who are as elegant as the women and gentlemen sitting at the small tables quietly talking. It's as if time stops at this place and I always loved it for this reason!
We enjoy our drinks and our last hour together before we go separate ways again. To feed my constant hunger I usually eat a snack as old as the hotel, a club sandwich. The earliest written proof of this sandwich's existence is from 1899, the hotel opened in 1857 and the current building was completed in 1893. The classic recipe for a club sandwich is made with turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Today I will share my club sandwich variation filled with a tuna dip mixed with gherkin, egg, capers, tomato paste and mustard, another one of my mother's recipes.
Unfortunately our favourite hotel is closed for renovations at the moment and we're still waiting impatiently for the reopening!
Tuna Club Sandwich
For 4 club sandwiches with 2 layers of tuna dip you need
white bread, toasted, cut in half, 12 slices
green lettuce 4 small leaves
For the tuna dip
tinned tuna in water, drained well (it's best to squeeze the water out), 185g / 6.5 ounces
organic egg, hardboiled and finely chopped, 1
gherkins, finely chopped, 2
capers, finely chopped, 7-10
yoghurt 7 tablespoons
olive oil 1 tablespoon
freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 teaspoon
liquid from the gherkins 1 teaspoon
mustard to taste
tomato paste to taste
salt and black pepper
Mix the ingredients for the dip with a fork and adjust the flavours to taste. Lay a leaf of lettuce on half a slice of toasted bread, spread with tuna dip, put another slice of bread on top covered with tuna dip and a final layer of bread, fix with a tooth pick.
