Tuna salad with tahini

Slate, the online magazine, recently published an article called Mayo-phobia: Why Do Some People Hate Mayonnaise So Much?  Even more compelling was the tagline on their home page:  "Why do Jews have a problem with mayonnaise?  It begins with Milton Berle."  As this article makes clear, aversion to mayonnaise is not confined to Jews.  About 10 years ago, an article in The New Yorker discussing Pret-a-Manger  (subscriber access only) thought it was an American phenomenon, and noted that sandwiches sold in the chains British stores were far more mayo-heavy than what would sell in the US.

Be that as it may, my son, Harry, hates mayonnaise and avoids most foods that contain it.  This meant that he would not eat tuna salad or sandwiches.  While this is not necessarily a great tragedy, given the state of the fisheries and levels of mercury in tuna it is still a convenient quick lunch on occasion.  Fortunately, he discovered an acceptable way to eat tuna while spending much of the winter of 2010-2011 hiking in the Negev -- tahini.  Tahini is relatively indestructible, so it is better and safer to hike with container of tahini than an open jar of mayonnaise.  With canned tuna, some water and lemon, you have a pretty good sandwich filling.  I have adapted it a bit more, and we have it all the time now:

Tuna salad with tahini

Ingredients

• 1 generous tablespoon tahini paste
• 1/2 small lemon
• water, about 1/4 cup
• 2 cans tuna, preferably packed in olive oil and drained well (or even vegetable oil;  oil packed tuna is less fishy and dry than water packed)
• optional additions: 1-2 hard boiled eggs, chopped; 1 rib celery,  chopped fine; 1/4 green pepper, chopped fine; chopped scallion or 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion; tablespoon capers well rinsed; 1/2 preserved lemon peel, rinsed well and chopped
• salt and pepper (white, red or black) to taste 

Method

1. To make the tahini dressing, put the tahini in a one quart or larger bowl; squeeze the lemon through a sieve or your fingers into the tahini.  Stir together with a fork, and you will notice that the tahini will stiffen.
2. Begin to dribble in the water very slowly, stirring all the while.  The tahini will continue to stiffen, and will then loosen and turn into a creamy texture.  You will use about 1/4 cup of water, though the quantity varies with the tahini and the solid/oil ratio in what you scooped out.  The texture should be like a thick sauce.  (If you have ever had prepared tahini, you will know what to expect.)  The process will probably take less than a minute.
3. Mix in the tuna, add whatever optional ingredients you want, bearing in mind that you will need less salt if you use things like capers. We generally make it with eggs, celery, red onion and green pepper.  I also like it with parsley.  The capers and preserved lemon make for a more special salad.
4. Serves about 4 -- use as you would any standard tuna salad, but you will probably enjoy this a lot more.

Microwave ollebrod

A while ago I posted a longer, more authentic version of Danish beer and bread porridge. However, there may be times when you want to throw together some ollebrod on short notice, like when some people are dropping by and you are about to pull the leftover ollebrod out of your fridge and you can't find it because your son is home from college and he finished it at 2 a.m.  (The real reason for college vacations is to help parents keep their refrigerators clean.)   You may also feel like ollebrod for breakfast.

In desperation, I tried to make it in the microwave, and it was not bad at all.  You can cut a lot of corners and pull it off in around 15 minutes.  The results are a bit drier but still good.  The important thing is to taste it to make sure that the alcohol has cooked off.  In Denmark, they serve this to toddlers for breakfast.  You don't have to, but the raw alcohol flavor is definitely out of place.

Quick Ollebrod/Beer Bread

Ingredients

• 3 slices of  brown bread  (see below)
• 1 cup dark beer 
• 1 inch piece orange rind, with no pith
• spices ( your choice of a combination of small piece of  cinnamon stick, a cardamom pod, and some allspice berries or cloves -- I just used 1/2 in piece of  cinnamon and cardamom)
• 1-2 tablespoons dried fruit (cherries, raisins or dates )
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar  
• pinch salt

Method

1. Tear up the bread, put it in a deep one quart microwave-safe dish and in soak it in hot water while you assemble the other ingredients. Drain it.
2. Add the other ingredients and stir.
3. Cover with a paper towel and microwave for 3 minutes.  Stir to break up the bread, cover and microwave for another 3 minutes.  
4. Taste the porridge.  Make sure the alcohol is cooked off and that it is sweet enough. If not add a bit more sugar.  Cook 2 minutes more if necessary, covered with paper towel. (The texture should be between a porridge and a pudding.)
5. Serve with ice cream (vanilla or salted caramel), coconut sorbet, cream or milk, depending on occasion and inclination.
6. Serves 2-4 depending on age and appetite.

The bread:  Almost any brown, dark or whole grain  bread can be used in this, and it is a great way to use up stale bread and leftover toast (and leftover beer for that matter).  Remember that caraway rye will make the results taste like caraway, so only use a spiced bread if you want the results to have that flavor.  A coriander-flavored Russian black bread would be worth trying. I generally use a combination of black pumpernickel and whole grain seedless rye, but in the pictured dish I used only whole grain rye.