Tuna Melt into Tuna Casserole.

Hubby and I love tuna melts; tuna salad with melted cheese on grilled, buttery, crispy bread; this has got to be one of the top items on anyone's comfort food list. Of course, so is the classic tuna noodle casserole. Basically what I recently did was create a tuna melt within a tuna noodle casserole by taking out a couple of ingredients, adding others in and got the best of two comfort food dishes. Nothing fancy, nothing difficult, but everything in taste; and most especially feeling good all the way from the senses of taste and smell to that warm, comfy hug in the stomach.  

Tuna Noodle Casserole - Version #2

Instead of typing out the recipe and leaving it at that, I'll do a breakdown of ingredients and preparation steps with accompanying photos.  That way you can compare directly with my first version (click on the link in the first paragraph) and see the differences.

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked extra wide egg noodles
1 (8 oz) bag frozen baby peas, defrosted and drained of excess liquid
2 (12 oz) cans solid white albacore tuna in water, drained and broken apart
2 (10 oz) cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (white or orange)


Question?  Can fresh peas be used?  Most definitely, make sure they are firm, thoroughly rinsed and dried before using though; you want to avoid excess liquid as the casserole should be creamy, not watery.

Question?  Does Cheddar have to be used?  Sharp Cheddar balances out well with the mildness of the sauce, noodles and tuna; adding a mild cheese, it will get lost.  Adding cheese with a kick, such as Pepper Jack will boost the flavor...as to its comfort factor, that would be up to the person eating it.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F; spray the inside of a two quart baking dish with nonstick spray; it doesn't give the casserole an oily residue like butter would.

In a large bowl, mix together the cream of mushroom soup, milk and black pepper; set aside.  In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, bread crumbs and cheese until crumbly; set aside.  Now the fun begins; in a larger bowl, mix together the noodles, tuna, peas; add the liquid mixture and mix thoroughly being careful not to break the tuna up any smaller, or tear the noodles.





 



Spread this mixture evenly into the two quart baking dish.

Now take that topping that was set aside and spread it out evenly over the noodle mixture; edge to edge around the dish.  I used the Italian flavored bread crumbs to enhance the flavor of the crust that will form.  If someone doesn't like the crumb crust, it can easily be removed from a serving without effecting the overall taste of the casserole itself.









Place the casserole into the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes; liquid will be bubbling up to the top and the crust will be browned. The crust forms what is similar to the grilled bread and melted cheese of a tuna melt; while the noodle and tuna mixture is the "salad" part. Noodles aren't typically in tuna salad; but if you read my post on tuna melts (click on the link in the first paragraph), you'll notice I did put macaroni and cheese inside a tuna melt.

There you have it, my second version of Tuna Noodle Casserole giving credit to a Tuna Melt.  Enjoy!

Mary Cokenour

American Recipe Sings Italian Opera.

Tetrazzini is strictly Italian, that is if you're the opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini who had a recipe created for her back in the early 1900's.  While Tetrazzini enjoyed a lavish career from 1890 to 1920; her life ended in poor health and poverty.  Now two sources claim to be the creators of this recipe named after the famous opera star, the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA and the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York, NY.  Just another version of the West coast versus the East coast; but whoever invented it, I bet, didn't foresee the casserole becoming such a hit with the home cook. 

Basically, Tetrazzini is a casserole made with some type of cooked poultry, canned tuna or raw shrimp which is mixed with diced vegetables, cooked spaghetti and baked together in a luscious, buttery cream sauce.  It's one of those recipes that can incorporate all the food groups in one sitting; if you add diced tomatoes, well there's your fruit group right there.  One thing I know for certain, there will be no leftovers for this casserole.

Tetrazzini

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp dry sherry
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, diced
1 lb spaghetti, cooked and drained
½ cup roasted red bell pepper, diced
3 cups turkey breast, cooked and cut into ½ inch cubes **
3/4 cup dry, unseasoned bread crumbs
3 Tbsp melted butter

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9” x 13” baking dish with nonstick spray.

Make a roux by melting 3 Tbsp butter, on high heat in a large saucepan; whisk in flour until smooth. It is important to keep whisking, or roux will burn; and the process will have to be started over. Continue whisking while adding chicken broth; sauce will thicken. Whisk in cream, sherry, cheese and black pepper; remove from heat when mixture is smooth.

In a small nonstick skillet, on high heat, melt 2 Tbsp butter; sauté mushrooms and onions until softened; about three minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the spaghetti, roasted peppers, turkey, sautéed vegetables and sauce; spread evenly into the baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and melted butter; sprinkle evenly over the mixture in the baking dish. Bake, uncovered for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Makes 8 servings.

**Options: Use the equivalent of cooked chicken, canned tuna or shrimp (raw, peeled and deveined)

Mary Cokenour

Tuna Sandwich that aims to Cheese.

Usually when having a sandwich, it might come accompanied by a side such as potato chips, french fries, cole slaw, etc. Then again, since I was a little child, I've always taken my potato chips and put them inside my tuna salad sandwich. The crunch factor was awesome and it just made the two separate items taste so good together. Oh sure, lots of folks add a crunch factor to their salads with chopped up bell peppers, onions or celery, but they can't beat good old fashioned potato chips.

Then there is the grilled cheese sandwich which can be just plain cheese or include any numbers of taste additives such as bacon, ham, or dare I say it....tuna salad. On a diner menu, you would see this item listed as a tuna melt, but who are we kidding, it's a grilled cheese sandwich with tuna salad added in. Simple comfort food goodness! Now a typical side for a grilled cheese is tomato soup, but macaroni and cheese is very welcomed.

Now the point to all this? How about if we took an old fashioned tuna melt and put the macaroni and cheese inside before grilling it? Have I gone nuts? Well I hope so, and so does my family, since they love this goody from the sandwich realm.

Now for the macaroni and cheese, here's a tip: after cooking it up, place it inside a buttered loaf pan and cool it in the refrigerator for a half hour. It will be easier to make slices that fit into the sandwich itself.

Simply put, have your tuna salad and macaroni and cheese made up before hand. My tuna salad is a mixture of albacore white plus chunk light; two (5 ounce) cans of white to one (5 ounce) light; two tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper and one tablespoon of diced onion. If you're not in the mood to make a homemade macaroni and cheese, a packaged brand like Velveeta works best, since it has the liquid cheese sauce, not a powdered mix.

If you have a square flat top griddle for the stove top, heat it up on medium-high heat and melt a couple of tablespoons of butter on it. While that's heating up, take 4 slices of bread and generously butter one side of each slice. Place them butter side down on the griddle; place a slice of American or cheddar cheese on each slice.

Wait one minute before placing a slice (about one inch thick) of macaroni and cheese on one slice of bread, and a half cup of tuna salad spread out on the opposite slice. When you start to hear sizzling in the pan, time to put the sandwiches together.

With a wide spatula, quickly and gently lift up the macaroni and cheese side of the sandwich onto the tuna side. Use a spatula to press the sandwiches down lightly; you want to make a seal with the cheese, but not squeeze out the insides. Wait 30 seconds and flip the sandwiches over; wait another 30 seconds and remove to a plate. Cut and enjoy!

Mary Cokenour

Classic Comfort - The Tuna Noodle Casserole

You can go back for generations and you'll find a recipe for this classic comfort food - the tuna noodle casserole. Tuna, egg noodles, peas (sometimes a peas and carrots mix), and a sauce made from scratch or using a cream soup such as celery, mushroom or a combination of both. It can be quickly mixed together, baked in no time and a real fill-you-upper kind of meal. It was especially found in households that practiced the "fish on Friday" requirement of some religions. While some children won't eat fish, the majority won't turn down tuna fish (the canned variety, not the fresh type).

The food companies even tried capitalizing on the love of this basic dish by selling a boxed skillet version which contained a packet of dry sauce and peas mix and a packet of noodles; just add tuna and water...bingo, bango...tuna casserole in a skillet. No, sorry, I don't think so; it's not that hard to make it from a recipe and use the oven to make a proper casserole.

There's comfort food and then there's "I'm really lazy food"; for me, I'll go the comfort route any time.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

 Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup each diced celery, onion and mushroom 

1 can (5 oz) chunk light tuna in water; undrained and flaked

1 can (5 oz) albacore white tuna in water; undrained and flaked

1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup

1 can (10.5 oz) cream of celery soup

1 cup milk

1 cup frozen peas or peas/carrots mix

8 ounces noodles, cooked and drained

1/2 cup bread crumbs mixed with 2 Tbsp melted butter

Preparation:

In a large skillet, medium-high heat, melt butter; sauté celery, onion and mushroom until tender.  Combine this in a large mixing bowl with all other ingredients except the buttered bread crumbs.  Spread evenly in the baking dish; top with the buttered bread crumbs.

Bake for 30-35 minutes; until bread crumbs are browned and sauce is bubbling.

Makes 6 servings.

Mary Cokenour

August 18, 1982