Skip to main content

Tuna Noodle Casserole Week

I am declaring this week Tuna Noodle Casserole Week (TNCW). I've been thinking about it lately—not like I think about the war in Iraq or immigration or the shrinking middle class or looking for a college for Daughter No. 2, but I have allowed tuna casserole to occupy a small portion of my brain. The phrase came up when Garrison Keillor sang about it on A Prairie Home Companion a couple of weeks ago, and I realized it's been years since I've had tuna noodle casserole.

It was a staple in the American diet in the 1900s. Anybody who could boil water and open a can of tuna could make it, and it was cheap. You can find the classic recipe here from Starkist.

But to start the week off, here's a stepped-up recipe from Rachael Ray that doesn't use a can of Campbell's soup for the sauce, and there isn't an ounce of mayonnaise in the list:

Tuna Casserole

1/2 loaf day-old crusty bread or 2 crusty day-old rolls
1 to 1 1/4 pounds tuna steaks, 1-inch thick -- 2 big steaks
1 cup white wine
Water
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil -- 1 turn of the pan
4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 large shallots, chopped
16 small button mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground thyme or poultry seasoning
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
1 cup baby frozen peas
1 pound extra-wide egg noodles, cooked to al dente or 12 ounces, 1 box, egg fettuccini
Chopped fresh parsley leaves, to garnish

Place bread in warm oven, 250 degrees F, to dry and toast, 20 minutes.

Place tuna in a skillet and add wine, then water -- just enough to cover fish. Add bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring liquids to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover skillet. Poach fish for 12 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil, 1 turn of the pan, and 2 tablespoons butter--reserve remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Add shallots and mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Sauté gently for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in ground thyme or poultry seasoning and flour and cook flour 1 minute, stirring with whisk. Whisk in stock, then cream. Adjust seasonings. Add peas.

Remove cooked, poached tuna to a bowl and flake fish with a fork.

Add cooked noodles and tuna to sauce. Remove sauce from heat and transfer mixture to a casserole or serving dish.

Use the widest cutting edge on a box grater to grate the bread into large crumbs. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small cup in microwave and pour melted butter over bread, Scatter buttery bread crumbs and parsley over the top of the casserole. Serve immediately.

Comments

dive said…
The middle class is shrinking?
Are you sure it's not just the working class getting fatter?

I love the idea of tuna noodle casserole week, Robyn! I shall be joining in enthusiastically, though I'll have to cut down your recipes considerably as I'm cooking for one; perhaps ramekins rather than casserole dishes!
Looks yum but... too many ingredients!

Robyn can you cook up something easy, really quick for me as i have no time at all at the moment, it's really hectic? LOL look at me asking for a personal recipe; the cheek of it. Ah well!
peahen said…
Thanks for the recipe Scout. I'll definitely try this. I discovered with delight that Prarie Home Companion, or at least Garrison Keillor's news from Lake Wobegone, is available to the rest of us (outside USA) as a podcast!
Anonymous said…
Ohhh, My Dog... the world has gone to hell! When I was a kid I would sit at the table and cry for hours while my "Tuna Wiggle" got cold and I knew I would have to eat it anyway, cuz that is how it was at my parents house. I can not and will not ever eat "That" again! I am tearing up right now!
Scout said…
Dive, semantics, my dear. It's the same as the working class here, and it's hardly getting fatter.

Lynn, maybe you could just eat the tuna straight out of the can. hee hee

Peahen, at this site, you can listen to the entire show on line by going to the archives and choosing the program you want:
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/

Prudence, Tuna Wiggle? No wonder you wouldn't eat it. The name itself is disgusting. By Friday, you'll be crying full force--just wait.
dive said…
Pea: I was listening to them on the train this morning. I downloaded a whole shedload of 'em.
savannah said…
what a great idea, sugar! i'll have to give this one a try now that the MITM is coming home!
Mrs. G. said…
Scout, this and mashed potatoes are my all time favorite comfort foods. I've never put peas in mine but I'm gonna...thanks for the continued inspiration.
Anonymous said…
Robyn, I may not be able to visit you until next week then. My gag refelx is in full swing!
Gina said…
Oh argh, if there is one thing in this world I will never eat, it is tuna.

And the irony?

My dad used to work for Star-kist Tuna.

Popular posts from this blog

Cindy Loo Who In October

What is it with people and Cindy Loo Who? Of my last one hundred blog hits, forty have been direct visits from regular readers, and fifteen have been as a result of people searching for "Cindy Loo Who," the little pixie from Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas . A couple of years ago, I posted an image of the original Seuss illustration as compared to the TV cartoon image, and for some reason, that post is bringing in the crowds, relatively. Maybe it's the weather. It isn't even November yet, and already we've had frost and have had to dust off our winter coats. When it gets cold like this, I start to think about Christmasy things like listening to Nat King Cole and decorating the tree. It's ironic because I am offended when retailers start pushing holiday stuff early, but I don't mind my own private celebrations. When my sister and I were much younger and still living with our parents, we would pick a day in July, close the curtains to darken the ...

The Ultimate Storyteller—in Life AND in Death

I wrote about The Autobiography of Mark Twain in yesterday's edition of Small Town Newspaper. You can read it here , if you want. This is the photograph I had in mind while I read Clemens' dictations. He really was a masterful storyteller, even when rambling on about the poorly designed door knobs in Florence or in describing the Countess Massiglia, who he described as a "pestiferous character." About her, he said, “She is excitable, malicious, malignant, vengeful, unforgiving, selfish, stingy, avaricious, coarse, vulgar, profane, obscene, a furious blusterer on the outside and at heart a coward.” And I laughed out loud.