Puppy Love by Donny Osmond
What does tuna fish and Donny Osmond have to do with each other? Well, I'll tell you! It's the early 70's and I'm at my friend Vera's house. We're in her bedroom listening to Donny Osmond on her turntable and swooning amid giggles and sharing dreams. Then suddenly she says, "Hey! You wanna make some tuna fish sandwiches?" I say ok and we head to her kitchen. She starts pulling out an onion and chopping it into tiny dices and she put her bread in the toaster! This was already different than my usual. When I said as much, she gave me an instant lesson on the finer notes of the best tuna fish sandwich I'd ever had. And I still enjoy that same recipe today! But lately I happened onto this fresh new version and I'm swooning again - except this time it's over food!Tuna fish can be elegant!
I know in my childhood tuna got a
real bad reputation when our moms tried
to put it in a casserole with some noodles and
canned soup.
Tuna fish sandwiches in your
sack lunch from home were
kinda ok but everyone knew someone
was packing one before lunchtime
because tuna tends to announce itself.
This recipe today though is fun to make and
tastes super fresh!
It's also crunchy and colorful!
Who's ready to play with their food?
Tuna Summer Rolls
makes 4
1 can albacore tuna in water, drained
1 cup chopped bok choy cabbage
1/4 red onion, diced
1 carrot, shredded
4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sriracha or favorite hot sauce
salt
cilantro
radish, sliced thin
4 rice paper wraps
Place the tuna, bok choy, red onion, carrot, mayonnaise, and sriracha in a bowl. It's a beauty to behold!
Give this all a good stir and season with salt to taste. Set aside.
Take one of the rice paper wraps and run under warm water, wetting both sides. It'll still feel crisp and hard but it will soften in less than a minute. Place it on a clean and dry chopping board.
It'll look like this at first. You can wait for it to completely soften but there's no need. I like to add a little decoration down first because the rice paper becomes transparent and you can see the fun design! I start doing this part while the rice paper is still softening. I lay down some radishes and cilantro leaves.
Next I will add 1/4 of the tuna mixture on top of the radishes and keep it to the center of the wrap.
Next you will fold in the sides of the wrap. You'll find that the wrap is now very soft and stretchy and a little sticky. That's good because it likes to hold onto itself!
Now you'll fold that bottom part up close to the tuna mixture like a burrito, tucking the end up and over the food bump. Then you will roll it up and the end will roll flat onto itself and stick like magic! Roll it as tight as you can. More tight than I did in these pictures! Repeat with the rest of the wrappers.
They're so pretty! See how the radishes show through? You can eat them as is or slice in half. If you're a dipper, they'd be delicious with an asian-inspired dressing or even a drizzle with some mayo and sriracha! Enjoy!
