This is a popular family recipe for an appetizing tuna pasta bake. Made with inexpensive vegetables and cheese, the recipe will easily feed a family of four or five.
Ingredients may vary according to taste, especially the type of cheese and pasta used. The recipe works best when using small pasta pieces, such as fusilli or pasta shells.
Tuna Pasta Recipe with Baked Tuna and Cheese
Pasta Ingredients
- 14 ounces of dolphin-friendly canned tuna fish (in brine or oil)
- 2 tablespoons of bran flakes or equivalent
- 1 medium tin of cream of chicken soup
- 1 medium tin of chopped plum tomatoes
- ¼ or ½ pound mushrooms (button or large mushrooms: amount varies according to taste)
- 1 green pepper
- 1 yellow or red pepper
- Spring of fresh mint or 1 teaspoon of dried mint
- 2 chicken stock cubes
- 6 ounces of grated cheese (mature cheddar or Red Leicester or a combination of both)
- 8 ounces of fusilli pasta from your pasta maker
- 1 ounce of butter or margarine
- Pinch of black pepper
- Small amount of olive oil (Here’s some olive oil dispensers you may like)
Pasta Preparation
- Chop the mushrooms into small chunks.
- Chop both peppers into small chunks and mix the peppers together.
- Grate the cheese into a small bowl.
Cooking Tuna Pasta Bake
- Drain the brine or oil from the tuna.
- Fork the tuna into the casserole dish in flakes.
- Add the bran flakes, chicken soup, plum tomatoes, mushrooms and peppers to the mixture.
- Finely crumble the chicken stock cubes into the mixture, ensuring that no large chunks fall in.
- Add the sprig of fresh mint or dried mint to the dish.
- Add a pinch of black pepper to taste.
- Gently mix everything together, ensuring that the tuna is spread throughout the mixture.
- Cover the ingredients with the casserole dish lid and cook in a fan-assisted oven at 170 degrees Celsius for approximately an hour. (Adjust accordingly for a standard oven or cook on gas mark four.) Check the mixture occasionally to ensure that it is not burning around the edges.
- While the mixture cooks, add the pasta to a large pot.
- Add a small amount of olive oil and pour in boiling water to cover the pasta.
- Cook the pasta over a medium heat on the hob.
- When the pasta is soft (texture of pasta will vary according to taste), drain the pasta shells.
- Add the butter or margarine to the pasta. Mix the butter and pasta together so that the butter is thoroughly spread out through the pasta.
- When the casserole has cooked, gently stir in the pasta.
- Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the top of the pasta to make a delicious tuna pasta sauce.
- Replace into the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until the cheese has thoroughly melted.
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