Tuna Pasta Bake

Tonight I thought I'd do something relatively simple but something that you could also "spruce" up.

This recipe was passed on to me by my ex-fiance from Texas. (The less said about that, the better. :-))

Tuna Pasta Bake


Ingredients:

1lb elbow macaroni (500g)
4 5oz (142g) tins tuna in water - you can use either light chunk tuna or albacore
1 large onion - sliced
2 small tins mushrooms pieces
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1 1/2 cups peas
1 cup corn
2 tins cream of mushroom spoup
1 4 cup bag cheddar cheese - shredded


Pre-heat oven to 400F (200C).

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box, drain and set aside.


Meanwhile, saute the onions in butter until soft, then add the mushrooms and garlic and cook on high heat browning slightly.

Put all the tuna into a bowl and break up into very small pieces.

Combine pasta, onion/mushroom mixture, tuna, peas, corn, mushroom soup and half the cheese and stir well to combine. (Appetizing huh??)

Place the mixture into a lasagne dish, smooth out and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is golden.

You could experiment with the cheese, like Gruyere or something similar, to really "adult" it up a bit. It would also be really good with fresh peas, corn and mushrooms.


I put some of this sauce: http://www.mikeanddianes.com/engine/cart/details.aspx?id=2 because it has a really great depth of flavour and if you're not sweating, you're not eating.

This is a fairly simple thing to put together for a family dinner during the week. (Although Connor is still being a pain by only eating certain thing.)


As always,

Enjoy.


Matt

Steak, potato salad and "grilled" mushroom, sounds like Summer!

I've been a bit slack recently, but haven't made anything new.

Tonight we had some steak on the BBQ and I thought I'd make my Gran's Potato Salad. We also had grilled Portabella mushrooms with crumbled blue cheese.

I cook the steak using a great grilling guide I found in Parade magazine. Here is the link in PDF form: http://www.dashrecipes.com/blogs/dashboard/2011/07/ParadeGrillGuide.pdf 

My Gran, as I've previously mentioned, was from Austria, so most of our food, whether lunch, dinner, birthday's, picnics etc was made from scratch. Mum gave me this Potato Salad recipe a few years ago and I like it a lot more than the creamy type that most people have. I think this is the more "traditional" one from Australia because it's sour cream and vinegar based.

Gran's Potato Salad

1kg (2lbs) small new potato - boiled, peeled and sliced (I cheat and use 3 tins of sliced new potatoes, bung em in a saucepan and heat until warm.)
4 shallots (green onions) thinly sliced
1/4 cup lite sour cream
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tspn sugar - rounded
salt and pepper to taste


Place potatoes into a large bowl.
Add sour cream, shallots and salt and pepper.
Combine vinegar, water and sugar. Microwave for 20 seconds and pour over potato salad.
Gently mix all ingredients to combine.

Grilled portabella mushrooms

Large portabella mushroom
soy sauce
crumbled blue cheese

Place mushroom on pre-heat BBQ over a medium flame.
Drizzle soy sauce over mushroom...how much depends on you, but don't go overboard.
Cook the mushroom for about 10 minutes, then scatter 2-3 teaspoons of the blue cheese on top and cook for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

And, this is what it looked like on my plate.

I put English Mustard on my steak, but it would taste great with grilled onions and Eta BBQ Sauce.

Eta BBQ Sauce can only be found online here in the USA, but I've found a way to make it that tastes almost identical and can be made with almost everything in your fridge and pantry. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than buying it and paying for shipping.

Eta BBQ Sauce

1 cup ketchup

¾ cup Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup brown sugar or more to taste

4 teaspoons arrowroot

4 teaspoons hot water

Mix ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a slow boil.

Mix arrowroot and water together to form slurry, combine with the hot sauce and stir until thickened.

Allow to cool and store in a squeeze bottle.

Hope you give all of this a go.

Enjoy!


Matt