Give Your Tuna Melt An Italian Twist With A Few Extra Powerhouse Ingredients

A simple yet hearty sandwich, legend has it that the tuna melt was invented at an American Woolworth's in the 1960s when tuna salad spilled onto grilled cheese. Actually, the tuna melt's mysterious origin remains the source of much speculation, but the story is easy to believe: After all, your basic tuna melt is indeed just tuna salad and melted cheese in a sandwich. But if you're looking to make your tuna melt slightly more interesting, try elevating it using the kind of flavorful ingredients you'd find in underrated Italian-style sandwiches. 

Two classic Italian ingredients which will immediately add new flavors and textures to a tuna melt are olives and artichoke hearts. Green olives have a slightly more bitter flavor than black olives, and they'll add a saltier kick to your savory tuna if you'd like. But either olive color will work so long as the pits are removed. To build on that olive flavor, you can look for tuna canned in olive oil, or make homemade French-style canned tuna by poaching it in olive oil yourself. 

Meanwhile, artichoke hearts are hearty, slightly earthy, and salty when brined, and they make for a natural pairing with tuna. They can also be chopped up and added directly into the tuna salad mix. Throw in some chopped roasted red peppers, too, for a contrasting burst of sweetness and color.

Besides adding additional ingredients, you could also play around with substitutes for common tuna melt components, like swapping tomatoes for Italian-style sun-dried tomatoes. Tomatoes are an easy tuna melt addition by themselves, but the sun-dried variety are an Italian staple with a much stronger, concentrated flavor. Sun-dried tomatoes are also sometimes packaged in olive oil (you may be noticing a Mediterranean pattern here), so look for ones that mention that on the container, or soak the tomatoes on your own. 

It's always good to try different cheeses on your tuna melt, but try pairing Italian ingredients with Italian cheeses such as nutty fontina, smooth provolone, or some grated asiago – a cheese from Northern Italy which works beautifully in hot sandwiches. It may come as no surprise to suggest putting all these ingredients into a ciabatta roll rather than the usual rye or sourdough.

Lastly, if the goal isn't just to punch up the flavor of your tuna melt, but to give it a downright fancy presentation, you can accomplish both those things by playing around with garnishes. Arugula and parsley are leafy and peppery, while capers are salty, tangy toppings that can really elevate the sandwich's texture — which is more important than you may think in making a sandwich really pop while you eat it. The slick veggies, chewy meats, and crunchy breads are a big part of what makes so many Italian sandwiches so appealing, after all.