Happy Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent! If you follow such things. I don’t, but I did growing up, and my mom still does, so I try to follow it for her.
When I was a kid and my mom made tuna noodle casserole, it was definitely a “yuck” night. Mushy tuna with vegetables (mushrooms???) and noodles in some white goop was not appealing. I used to try to get as much of the crushed potato-chip topping as possible.
Fast-forward 20 years, and my tastes have developed, and I think of tuna-noodle casserole as classic comfort food. My mom didn’t have a specific recipe, so I started looking on-line. Lots of the recipes had tons of cheese – my mom’s version never had cheese, but I could see that would be a good addition. Then, I was looking at a menu at one of those “make meals ahead” places, and they had “Tuna Tortellini Casserole” on the menu. Wow – what could increase the status of Tuna Noodle Casserole more than swapping the noodles for tortellini?
This recipe still has all the classic elements – tuna, cream of mushroom soup, pasta, and cheese. The flavors are rather subtle, so if you are looking for spicy or strong, this is not the casserole for you, but if you are looking for a hearty, satisfying meal – look no further.
I have been following my meal plan schedule as I introduce different meals here on the blog, and I am in week 4 – which is my weakest plan. I have struggled and tweaked my list over the years trying to make it work, but Tuna Tortellini Casserole has always been on the list. It takes a little longer than my usual weeknight meals because once you have assembled the casserole (about 20 minutes), you then bake it for ~20 minutes to get the cheese to melt and everything heated through.
Sauteing the vegetables.
This recipe is very versatile – use whatever veggies of your choice, I happen to like onion, celery, green pepper, and mushroom, but you could add carrots or peas. Use whatever cheese you like – I like the combination of Swiss with the tuna, but you could certainly use cheddar or Monteray Jack. And, use whatever pasta you like – the recipe calls for tortellini which adds some texture and more cheese to the mix, but I cannot always find good tortellini to use (my grocery store only carries its store brand , and it is awful – tastes like cardboard), so you’ll see in the pictures that I used Cavatelli:
This also works well – it doesn’t have the extra cheese, but it has a nice “chew” as they say on the Food network J In addition, it’s only $.99 a pound.
If you haven’t given Tuna Casserole a try since your childhood, give this recipe a shot, you’ll be happy you did.
Tuna Tortellini Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 6 ounce cans tuna, flaked
- 1 10 1/2 ounce can cream of mushroom soup, 98% fat free
- 1 cup 2% cheddar cheese or 1 cup swiss cheese shredded
- 2 4 cup bags frozen cheese tortellini
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 green pepper chopped (optional)
- 1 c white mushrooms sliced (optional)
- potato chips crushed (optional)
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with 4 quarts water and put on high heat to boil.
- Chop onion and celery and saute in a little oil or spray. (Note: Feel free to add mushrooms or peppers, I can barely get away with celery with my family's tastes).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add tortellini to water and cook per package directions - you can undercook a little.
- In a 2 quart casserole, mix tuna, soup, and milk.
- Add celery and onion mixture to casserole.
- Drain tortellini and add to casserole. Add cheese and fold in with tuna mixture.
- Sprinkle with crushed potato chips, bread crumbs, etc., if you desire.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.
