Canned Tuna Becomes A Quick And Satisfying Lunch When You Serve It Like This

A can of quality tuna is a reliable pantry staple that gets you most of the way to a complete meal. But, even once it's mixed with the typical mayo, seasonings, and maybe some diced celery for crunch, it still needs something else to feel really finished. There is no shortage of types of bread to turn your salad into a sandwich or a gooey, cheesy tuna melt. But when you really want a flavorful tuna salad vehicle detour, turn to tomatoes and avocados for a fun lunchtime spin.

It takes less than a minute to halve a tomato, scoop out its juice and seeds, and fill the two sides with your favorite tuna salad recipe. The same goes for an avocado: Slice it, pop out the pit, and pile on the fish mixture. Tomatoes are bright and juicy and avocados are mild and creamy, so while they both complement tuna's rich savoriness, each offers a different experience. There are also a couple of ways to easily improve this already easy tuna improvement. And you can do so with as little as some minimal extra knifework or a simply applied extra ingredient.

You can make your tuna salad-stuffed avocado even more user friendly by slicing a grid into the fruit's interior, just like a deeper score. This allows you to spoon out even bites without any of the digging that might get a little messy. If the space vacated by the avocado pit seems too shallow to fill, that's easily remedied. Carve out a tablespoon or two, and stir it right into the tuna salad itself. The creamy addition should also let you pull back on the mayo a bit, if you wish.

Should you have time for even the narrowest brush with cooking, there's a tasty tomato opportunity too. Halve the tomato or lop off its top, scoop out the interior, and fill with the tuna salad like usual. But then you'll want to place it on an aluminum foil or parchment paper-lined baking sheet, grate some parmesan cheese over the top, and pop under the broiler for a few minutes until it becomes nice and toasty. You can create an even meltier effect with a slice of American or cheddar cheese. You'll probably have to dirty a knife and fork in each of these cases unlike with the standard sandwich, but it's a small price to pay for this kind of midday meal innovation.