Friday night cocktails and appetizers

It was a quiet rainy night. One football practice had ended early, the other one had been canceled altogether, so there were more kids around, and fewer adults. It called for just a bottle of red wine and an easy dinner. Corn chowder was in the crockpot, and I put together some Open-faced Italian tuna melts based on Rachael Ray’s Tuna Mini Melts with Rosemary, but I was looking for less sandwich, more appetizer. And, as usual, I wanted to use what I had in the house, so I used a hearty whole-grain bread, and made them open-faced (who needs that extra slice of bread when you could have an extra glass of wine instead?). I added some sundried tomatoes for color and flavor too.

Open-faced Italian tuna melts

2 cans Italian tuna in olive oil, lightly drained
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
1 sundried tomato, finely chopped
Black pepper
1 T olive oil
4 slices provolone cheese, deli sliced and chopped
8 full-size slices of grainy bread, or 32 slices of cocktail bread

Mash tuna with finely chopped shallot, rosemary, sundried tomato, black pepper, and olive oil. Stir in the chopped cheese. Toast one side of the bread under the broiler until light brown, turn bread over, top each with a generous tablespoon of tuna. Place under the broiler again, just until warm.