Old-School Tuna Casserole

Ingredients

½ bag egg noodles (about 175 grams)
2 cans water-packed tuna, flaked
2 cups fresh or frozen peas
For the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1 small white onion, finely chopped
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
For the topping:
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup crushed potato chips, corn flakes or breadcrumbs

Takes 35 Minutes, serves 6.

Instructions

Cook pasta: Bring a large pot, ¾ filled with water to boil. Add a tablespoon or two of salt. Add pasta and cook al dente, according to the the package instructions. Drain pasta and transfer to a medium-sized bowl.
Prepare the sauce: While the pasta is cooking, melt butter in a medium-sized saucepan on medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and stir, cooking the flour with the onions for about 1 minute. Add the milk, stir and cook until sauce thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
Assemble casserole: Preheat oven to 400°F. Add tuna and peas into the bowl with cooked pasta. Pour sauce on top and gently stir everything together. Transfer to a lightly buttered 8 x 11-inch casserole dish and smooth out. Sprinkle with grated cheddar, followed by crumbled potato chips, corn flakes or breadcrumbs.
Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

How about a lesson on making a classic OLD-SCHOOL TUNA CASSEROLE?

I like finding out interesting facts about the origins of really popular recipes. This OLD-SCHOOL TUNA CASSEROLE for example evolved out of necessity. It’s believed that the concept of casseroles came to be in the late 1800s. The genius of this now-classic dish is the process of taking readily available ingredients and creating something very tasty, very quickly.

I learned a lot about casseroles by reading THIS article in WIKI.

Make this cheesy tuna casserole recipe once and you’ll see it’s as easy as it gets. Cook pasta, make a basic sauce, combine it with just our additional ingredients, bake and serve. When it comes to easy recipes, I’m all for it.

Here’s why it’s deserving of great praise.

INGREDIENTS

I explain in the video how a conversation on a plane piqued my interest in casseroles. My seatmate was adamant about not getting fancy with cheesy tuna casserole – simple is the way to go.

TUNA & PEAS

Canned tuna gives this dish a flavour profile familiar to most of us, and we suggest using flaked tuna packed in water. Drain the water once you open the can and fluff the tuna a bit, breaking it up before you stir it in with the pasta.

Fresh peas are amazing in baked tuna casserole, though finding them depends on season and availability. Making the recipe in the depths of winter, I used frozen organic peas. Either option will offer up a similar great taste.

SAUCE

Most casserole recipes call for canned soup, whether it’s mushroom, celery or cream of chicken. I opted to make a simple white sauce instead and am pleased with the end result. Feel free to double the sauce portion of this recipe if you like your casserole extra creamy.

Chips and cheddar for the Tuna Casserole

TOPPERS

The recipe calls for the addition of two toppers that amp up the richness quotient of this dish – grated cheddar cheese makes things tasty and gooey while a sprinkling of corn flakes, breadcrumbs or potato chips makes it crispy.

Don’t overthink the service of this one-dish wonder; keeping things simple is probably best. Looking to make other easy recipes to go with it? Try our CARROT ORANGE SOUP, our extremely popular CUCUMBER, AVOCADO & FETA SALAD and for something sweet, OMA’S APPLE CAKE.