Best Tuna Salad Sandwich I've Ever Made/Had

Grain Mustard, Lemon Juice, Jalapeños, Red Onion, Mayo, Scrambled Egg, Red Lumpfsh Caviar, Endive, Three-Seed Baguette

Cucumber Mint Lemonade

The days of summer are upon us, and accommodatingly, some meals need to take on lighter, healthier properties competing with the burgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, and ribs that run rampant at cookouts, on beaches, and in backyards.

So I returned to the tried-and-true tuna salad sandwich, having not made one in a surprisingly long time, and decided to ramp up the comfort food standard by, adding to minimal mayo, scrambled egg (as opposed to the long-popular hard-boiled egg), some chopped jalapeños for sweet, poppy heat, grain mustard for a heady earthiness, and red lumpfish for a clean, bright and briny finish.

Endive leaves gave the tuna salad hints of floral flavor, while offering crispy, watery snap to each bite, cushioned by the crispy, crusty exterior of a three-seeded baguette with an aromatic airy interior.

As summer is lemonade season as well, I mellowed a pitcher of it with slices of cool cucumber and spiked it with the commonly used fresh mint.

No sacrifice of taste — quite the opposite. Both sandwich and beverage were explosions of light, fresh flavors, a welcome counter to the next few months of grilled meats and thick barbecue sauces.