Ina Garten's Ultimate Tuna Melts Calls for 1 Particular Ingredient That Is So 'Barefoot Contessa'

Ina Garten is known for using “good” ingredients in her comfort food recipes. When it comes to her Ultimate Tuna Melt, there’s one particular ingredient that is so Barefoot Contessa. It takes a simple tuna sandwich to the next level.

Ina Garten has reinvented the tuna sandwich once before

A tuna fish sandwich is a comfort food staple for many of Garten’s fans. So in her cookbook Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?, she reinvented the simple sandwich into something exotic.

That cookbook was all about recipes with easy-to-find ingredients and simple cooking techniques. But just because they’re easy to make, it doesn’t mean they aren’t delicious. Garten found inspiration for her Tuna & Hummus Sandwiches recipe after a visit to Le Pain Quotidien, one of her favorite restaurants.

Tuna and hummus is a ‘good combination’

Garten says that tuna and hummus is a “good combination,” no matter if the hummus is homemade or store-bought. Her recipe for these sandwiches features Italian tuna in olive oil, minced celery, minced yellow onion, minced cornichons, freshly squeezed lemon juice, good mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

The Barefoot Contessa serves this tuna recipe with fresh, sliced radishes and sourdough bread with a layer of hummus on each slice.