Oil-Packed Tuna, Hard-Boiled Egg, Roasted Fennel, Tomatoes, Tapenade and Greens
Lots of cookbooks offer creative ideas for kids' lunches, but what about the rest of us? Lunch can get tiresome for adults, too, so I decided to create a few sandwich recipes for an older crowd—ideas that will get you out of your same-old-sandwich rut, amp up your midday nutrition, and energize you for the demands of the afternoon. If you want a change of pace, this recipe is for you! It's basically egg salad dressed up for an evening out, and it's absolutely delicious! It's loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that keep the brain sharp and help performance, plus protein from the tuna and egg and antioxidants from the fennel; the flavor is over the top! Cook the fennel over the weekend, so you have it on hand to enjoy during the week.
Don't throw out those fennel stalks! The fennel stalks have great flavor, but they can be a little tough. What to do with them? Make vegetable stock! Simmer them in water with any other vegetables scraps like onion tops and skin, carrot peels, and stems from herbs. (Yup. Stuff you'd put in the composter.) Vegetable stock doesn't take more than 30 minutes of simmering and adds fabulous depth of flavor to soups, sauces and risotto, and it freezes beautifully.
Recipe information
Total Time
40 minutes
Yield
4 sandwiches
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C or gas mark 6. Remove dark green stalks from the fennel and reserve for another use (see tip). Cut the fennel in half lengthwise, then into 1⁄3-inch/8-millimeter slices crosswise. Place on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Roast until softened and lightly browned in some areas, about 30 minutes.
Step 2
To make hard-boiled eggs, place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and then turn off the heat and let sit for 12 minutes. Rinse in cool water. When cool enough to handle, peel the eggs and rinse off any bits of shell. Cut each egg into 8 wedges. Reserve.
Step 3
To assemble the sandwiches, place the bottom of the baguettes on a work surface. Spread each with 1 teaspoon/5 grams tapenade. Top with 1/2 cup/10 grams mesclun, 1 slice tomato, 1 1/2 ounces/42 grams fennel, 1 1/2 ounces/ 42 grams tuna and 4 wedges of egg. Top with other half of baguette.
