glorified tuna melt.

guess who made it to portland and found awesome (foodie!) roomates!?

i'm (semi) settled in now and living in a huge house in the south east side of portland nestled in the hawthorne district full of coffee shops, movie theatres, bars/pubs, vintage clothing and accessories and of course, FOOD. there are so many places to eat that i haven't had a chance to decide where to go first. so...

...i decided to warm up one of my roomates today by making him lunch a la glorified tuna melt. (i should also say that he caught ten giant albacore tuna so we have tuna galore in our house-thanks ben!).  it actually started out as a glorified grilled cheese sandwich the day before but the added tuna definitely topped it off. i mean, who doesn't love a good tuna melt?

glorified tuna melt (certified oregon stlye):
2 slices of Grand Central Bakery bread
canned tuna freshly caught off the coast of oregon
1/2 cup fresh shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup red onion, sliced
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
3 slices of fresh tomato
butter, salt and pepper
aardvark hot sauce*
saute onions and mushrooms with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. while this is cooking, butter the outside of the two slices of bread and preheat another pan on medium. when you are almost done cooking the vegetables, place a slice of bread (butter side down) into the preheated pan and place half the mozzarella on the bread. add the sauted vegetables straight from the pan onto the bread and cheese. top with tuna. top with tomato slices and top with the rest of the cheese.  (* if you like hot sauce, now would be the time to put it in. i am a whimp when it comes to hot sauce and my roomates' goal is to change that. baby steps i say.) place the other piece of bread, butter side up on top. by this time, the bottom should be already golden brown.  if it is, flip it over. press it down using a spatula so it all melts together. when both sides are golden brown, you are done!

serve with ice cold beverage (lagunitas IPA shown here) and enjoy!
 

and mom, don't worry. i also busted the sushi knife out and cut up the tuna sashimi style and we ate that as well!