This recipe is made from scratch using a roux. Sorry to all my Dakota friends for posting a recipe that does not involve cream of mushroom soup.
- 2 cans light tuna in water – drained & flaked
- 1 package pasta – dealer’s choice, I like egg noodles
- 4 oz panko – can use crushed potato chips or bread crumbs
- 4 oz parmesan cheese – for topping
- 3 TBL flour
- 3 TBL butter
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 12 oz whole milk
- 32 oz chicken stock
- 8 oz frozen peas – thawed (can use canned but they’re soft)
- Mirepoix
- 1 onion – diced
- 1 carrot – diced
- 1 celery stalk – diced
- Kosher salt and ground pepper
Process
- Mise en Place – prepare your ingredients
- Preheat oven to 400 deg. F fan or 425 deg regular.
- Sautee onion, carrot, and celery in butter on medium-high, careful not to burn the butter. It will take 5-8 mins. for the mirepoix to cook.
- Start pot of water to boil for the pasta.
- Make Roux: Add flour and whisk to coat mirepoix. Slowly whisk in stock in stages, a little at a time. Don’t freak when the roux gets very stiff on the first addition, just keep slowly adding stock making sure to stir out the lumps. when all the stock has been added, add milk and bring to boil then immediately reduce to simmer. Stir occasionally. Sauce will reach desired thickness in about 8 minutes. Note: you want the sauce to have structure, but not be too thick otherwise the casserole will come out dry.
- Salt and pepper the sauce to taste. Add in stages and let set so sauce can harmonize with the spices, then decide if you need to hadd more.
- Add salt to the pot of boiling water and cook pasta al dente (under cooked ~2 minutes less than recommended). Drain, but don’t rinse, we want the pasta to be sticky.
- Toss together panko, Parmesan, and olive oil.
- Stir pasta, tuna, and peas in to sauce.
- Transfer sauce mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and top with panko mixture.
- Bake until sauce is bubbling and crust is golden, 12-15 fan or 17 to 20 minutes conventional. If using Panko, it will brown quickly, even before the cheese has a chance to melt, make sure the cheese has melted. You can cover the top with foil if it browns too quickly.
- Cool 10 minutes before serving.
