Recipe: Re-imagined Tuna Noodle Casserole

I hate Tuna Noodle casserole. I think I inherited that hatred from my mother. She was forced to eat it on Fridays for most of her childhood and teenage years. It was cheap and for Catholic, no meat Fridays, it was a mainstay along with fish sticks (and because of my Grandmother, no meat Fridays continued after Vatican II). That being said, I was wondering, could I change the recipe to make it eatable for myself? Well, this is certainly “reinterpreting” a dish. I generally as a rule don’t like canned fish (especially tuna or salmon), nor do I generally like diary with seafood. There are of course exceptions to that (alfredo with shrimp), but, as a general rule of thumb, I don’t enjoy the two together.

My first thought is… I love tuna, fresh tuna that is. So how do I get fresh tuna into a dish that is baked and mixed with a cream sauce. Also, what could I do to replace the cream sauce given that fresh tuna is so light and delicate that why pay the expense if you’re not going to taste the tuna?

Here’s what I came up with. This one’s for you Jon!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb Tuna

• 1/2 a package of Egg Noodles (my nod to the original recipe)

• 1 Bell pepper, roasted and sliced

• ½ cup of peas

• Fresh Parsley, chopped (tablespoon)

• Fresh Tarragon, chopped (teaspoon)

• 2 clove of garlic

• 1 shallot, finely diced

• 1 cup of white wine

• 6 tablespoons of butter

• Drizzle of Olive Oil

• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

• 1 anchovy

• Zest of one lemon

• Lemon juice

• 1-2 tablespoons of peanut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt so it tastes like the ocean. Add egg noodles and cook according to the length on the package. I prefer them el dente, but cook them to your taste.

As the noodles cook, begin by mincing garlic and shallot. In a skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil and add the garlic and shallots. Cook over medium heat until sweated and translucent. At this point, add white wine and reduce.

In another skillet, bring a tablespoon of olive oil to temperature and add the second garlic clove minced and stir in the oil until fragrant. Add anchovy and stir until it dissolves in the oil. At this point, add in bread crumbs and lemon zest and toss until bread crumbs are toasted. Off the heat, add the parsley and stir into bread crumbs. Set aside.

Returning to the pan with the white wine reduction. When the wine has reduced by half, slowly add in the butter, mounting it a little at a time and stirring so that it becomes one sauce. Add a drizzle of fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsley and tarragon. Add in frozen peas and sliced roasted Bell peppers. Remove from heat and allow to sit.

Take sauce and combine with noodles. Add to individual baking dishes and top with bread crumbs. Place in oven for 5 mins.

In another skillet, bring peanut oil to a high temperature. Take tuna out of the refrigerator and salt and pepper each side. Place tuna in pan with hot oil. It will pop and sizzle. Allow to cook on each side for 1 minute, before turning it. If the tuna will not release from the pan, simply allow to cook a few more seconds. When it caramelizes, it will release on its own. Turn and cook on each side. Set aside on a plate.

Pull noodles from oven, slice tuna into pieces and place on top. Drizzle with olive oil and a few more bread crumbs.

Bon Appetit!