Deviled Tuna Bake

This is what happens when tuna salad meets a cornflake-topped casserole and decides to skip the oven for the broiler. Canned tuna gets blended with mayo, Dijon, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and onion (basically deviled-egg dressing), then mixed with sliced hard-boiled eggs and crumbled bread for body. A crunchy cornflake-and-Parmesan topping goes on, and five minutes under the broiler is all it takes to crisp up the crust and warm everything through.

The smart move here is the broiler, not the oven. Most tuna casseroles bake for thirty to forty minutes at moderate heat, which dries out the tuna and turns the whole thing dense. Broiling for five minutes does the opposite. The tuna mixture stays moist and creamy underneath while the cornflake topping turns deep golden and shatteringly crisp on top. The broiler treats this less like a casserole and more like a hot tuna salad with a crouton crown.

Kitchen Tips

• Use the highest-quality canned tuna you can afford, ideally oil-packed Italian tuna or solid white albacore. Cheap chunk light tuna in water tastes thin in this dish.
• Crush the cornflakes lightly with a rolling pin, leaving some larger pieces for varied texture.
• Slice the hard-boiled eggs just before mixing. Pre-sliced eggs sweat liquid that thins the mayo dressing.
• Watch the broiler carefully. Cornflakes go from golden to burnt in seconds.

Variations

• Substitute crushed Ritz crackers, panko, or potato chips for the cornflakes.
• Add a teaspoon of curry powder to the mayo mixture for a curried tuna twist.
• Stir in chopped pickles, capers, or finely diced celery for extra crunch and tang.