Recipe: Tuna Casserole

Every woman and man should know how to make one good casserole dish that they know their family will enjoy for time to come!

I want to share a recipe for a tuna casserole dish I grew up eating. My mom didn’t make it often but when she did, it was sooo good! Now that I’m out of my parents’ house and I have to rely on my own devices for feeding myself (not completely true, Jabi cooks too) I crave my moms’ cooking more than I ever expected to. In particular, I crave this dish, because a) I love pasta and b) I love cheese. He he he! Not everyone is a fan of tuna. For example, my brother-in-law, he hates tuna! So my sister substitutes canned tuna for canned chicken! I tasted it and it worked just as good.

I introduced this dish to Jabi years ago when we were still dating and thankfully he really enjoyed it. Now when I get around to making it, he gobbles it up, and especially enjoys it the next day for leftovers. He loves to add parmesan cheese at the end. Which is optional for those who want to give that a go.

You will need the following Ingredients:

1 lb. Rigatoni Pasta 


6 oz. of spinach fettuccine (half of a 12 oz. bag) 


4 cans Tuna (packed in water or oil doesn’t matter) 


2 1/2 c. Shredded Cheddar Cheese 


3 c. Shredded Pepper Jack cheese 


7 hardboiled eggs, sliced 


½ cup to ¾ cup Mayonnaise, low fat or regular (the quantity depends on how much you like) 


Salt to add to boiling water for cooking pasta 



Instructions: 


1) Bring large pot of water to rolling boil add a dash of salt to flavor the pasta. Add rigatoni pasta and cook to al dente, different brands of pasta have different cook times. The brand of spinach fettuccine that I use cooks quickly (about 3min) so once the rigatoni has 3 min left on the clock I add the spinach fettuccini to the same pot.

2) In a medium saucepan bring separate water to a boil and boil eggs for about 12minutes. 


3) In the meantime, start shredding all the cheese. Also, open and drain the tuna (I use a mesh strainer and a fork to press as much water as I can out). Once you have drained your tuna, place into a bowl and mix in the mayonnaise. (My mom used to just mix the mayo in at the end with all the other ingredients, but I prefer to mix the mayo with the tuna before adding it to the whole dish. This way there isn’t dry tuna bits in the casserole).

4) Once the pasta and eggs are done, drain all the liquid, don’t run the pasta under cold water to cool – I find this removes some of the salt from the boiling process. Just transfer pasta into a large baking dish. Leave it there and start peeling the shells from the eggs. Then slice your eggs.


5) Returning to the pasta, add the tuna-mayo mix, eggs, all the cheese (leave just a little to sprinkle at the top before placing into the oven) and mix with your hands. I find using my hands is the easiest way to make sure its mixed good, make sure your hands are clean, of course, and take off all your rings. 
 


6) Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 min, or until the cheese is melted and some of the pasta on the top has crisped up! Enjoy!

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