Tuna Tetrazzini

When we arrived home from Gabe's parents place, you know there was nothing in the house to make dinner. It's a good thing the pizza parlor is five minutes up the road.

Gabe finished the last of the pizza slices for lunch the next day. What was I going to make for dinner?

Won't be long before we get back in the truck and head to our little home in Florida and see Leda. The freezer is almost empty and I'm trying to use up what I have so I won't have to bring it down with us. You know how I hate to throw anything  away.

I had some can tuna. I made a few casseroles awhile back from  Carol and Marlene recipes and both were wonderful but as usual I had no idea where the recipes are.  Headed over to pinterest and found this recipe from Zestuous. I think what grabbed me was that it had Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning in it. 

Gabe would never refuse a meal containing pasta so I was on a roll. He would be happy and I would get to use up cheese, pasta and the tuna.

I did not add frozen peas. Gabe will only eat can peas. I'm not a fan of canned peas but he loves them so into the tetrazzini they went.

 Had a tiny amount of the spicy panko left so sprinkled some on top but I had a sleeve of Town House crackers that were starting to go. Crushed them up and sprinkled them on top. You just got to think outside of the box!

He liked this- I don't eat pasta but half the casserole is gone so it must be pretty good.

Ingredients:

1 13.5-oz. box thin spaghetti
1 tablespoon butter (see note below)
½ cup onion, diced
½ cup celery, diced
1 ½ cups tuna
½ cup frozen peas, thawed ( can peas)
3 tablespoons butter (margarine)
¼ cup flour
2 cups milk (evaporated milk)
8 ozs. (2 cups) cheddar cheese
1 tsp. salt ( didn't use)
½ tsp. Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning
Panko breadcrumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the pasta in a large pot of boiling water and cook the pasta until it's al dente. Once it's cooked - drain into a colander and run some cold water over. Set aside.

Cut up the onion and celery. I didn't have any butter left so I sauteed the diced onion and celery in a tablespoon of olive oil until the celery was soft and the onion was translucent.

Next step is the sauce- the recipe used weekend morney (cheese) sauce. This is an easy sauce to make.

Melt the butter ( I used margarine) in a medium pot over low- medium heat. You don't want to burn the butter so keep an eye on it.

Slowly add the flour to the butter and whisk until all the flour has been incorporated. It thickens up to a nice roux.

Add the milk a little at a time to the roux and continue to stir. I add milk stir, add some of the cheese stir and continue till all the milk and cheese has been combined. Just remember to keep stirring.

The sauce thicken up and in about 10 minutes you should have a nice thick sauce. 

Add salt (if using) and the Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning. ( I did a taste test to check on the degree of spice we like- passed the Linda test)

In a large bowl add the pasta which was been drained and cooled, the tuna( also drained), onions and celery. Combine all the ingredients.

Pour the sauce over the pasta mixture and mix well.

Since I used canned peas I slowly folded in the peas. I had to be careful or they would of been mush.

Sprinkled with the tiny amount of spicy panko and used a sleeve of  crushed Town House crackers for the topping.

Bake in your preheated 350 degree oven for 20- 25 minutes.

I baked the casserole uncovered.

I dislike taking photos of casseroles- this was the best I could get on this dish.