Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Tuna Noodle Casserole. That's right, I'm going to show you how to make what I consider the king of the comfort food casserole. Not counting mac and cheese, of course.
And what I love about this recipe, besides that it's simple and easy, is that it doesn't require the traditional can of cream of mushroom soup. But don't worry, despite the fact we're not using any processed food in this, we're not going to make it too healthy. And this will still have the appropriate amount of creamy decadent goodness like every casserole should. So with that, let's go ahead and get started.
By sautéing some onions in some butter set over medium heat. Along with, of course, the traditional big pinch of salt. And what we'll do is cook these during for about three or four minutes.
Or until they just start to soften up and turn translucent. And no, we normally don't use a whisk here. But since we're going to be adding milk and eventually whisking this into a sauce, a whisk does make sense. And then what we'll do once we feel like those onions have sautéed enough.
is go ahead and stir in some flour to create a roux, R-O-U-X, which as you may know is a paste made from butter and flour used to thicken a sauce. And we'll want to cook that stirring for about three minutes or so, just to take the raw edge off the flour. And we are still on medium heat, but if you think you need to turn it down just a little, go ahead, since we really don't want this mixture browning and taking on a lot of color.
So adjust that flame down if need be. Okay, that's just you cooking. And then what we'll do once our oniony roux is cooked for about three minutes or so, is go ahead and pour in all our milk.
And no, not gradually while whisking. And that's because our roux was hot and our milk was very cold. And as you've probably heard me say many times before, cold milk, hot roux, no lumps. Which means we can just dump it all in and then start whisking. And you'll see by the time this comes up to a simmer and fully thickens, it will be beautifully smooth and lump free.
Or your money back. Oh, and speaking of bringing this up to a simmer, once we add the milk, we want to crank this up to medium high, and we will cook it while stirring often until it comes up to a simmer. And generally, when you're working with a roux-based sauce, it will be as thick as it's going to get once it starts to simmer, which is what I was looking at right here.
And as soon as that happens, what we'll do is turn off the heat and whisk in some shredded white cheddar cheese. All right, maybe something a little bit on the mild side, but of course, that's dealer's choice. And that's it. With the heat off, we'll just stir that in.
And believe it or not, our very simple white sauce is done. And we'll simply reserve that until needed and move on to our egg noodles, which for the 115th year in a row has won the award for most beautiful noodle, thanks to their beautiful sunny golden color. And what we need to do is boil those in some generously salted water for five minutes, or one minute under, whatever the cooking directions on the package are. And then what we'll do once those are almost cooked, is drain them very, very well. And we'll transfer those into a nice big mixing bowl.
We will transfer in our still very hot sauce. And we'll give all that a quick mix before we add the rest of our ingredients. Oh, and the reason that sauce was still hot is because we're pretty good at multitasking. So we had our water coming up to a boil while we made our sauce.
And then what we'll do once we've given that a quick mix is go ahead and add our tuna, which for me was three five and a half ounce cans of tuna packed in olive oil. that I crumbled up. And yes, that is kind of a lot. You can probably do this with two cans, but I'm on that new high-carb, high-protein diet. So I went with three, and then we'll follow that up with a cup of green peas, which were previously frozen, but then thawed and very well drained.
And then we'll finish this up by seasoning with some salt, as well as a few shakes of the cayenne, and a nice big pinch of freshly ground black pepper. And then last but not least, a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. And then we'll give that one final thorough mixing. And if that mixture looks a little too thin to you, it's not.
Okay, if your mixture is thick now, by the time you bake it, it's going to be way, way too thick. So I really do think we want to start out with something that looks like this. And then once that's set, we'll go ahead and transfer that into a buttered baking dish. Your standard 9 by 13 inch casserole dish to be exact. And once that's set, we are down to one optional but mandatory component.
And that would be making our crumb topping. which for me will feature some breadcrumbs, a whole bunch of freshly grated parmesan, plus a couple tablespoons of olive oil or melted butter. Okay, whatever you're into. And we'll take a spoon and give that a mix. And we'll keep mixing until it sort of looks like wet sand.
And once that's been mixed, we'll go ahead and dump that on top and spread that over nice and evenly. And I'm using breadcrumbs here because I usually have those around, and I usually don't have potato chips around. But if you do, crushed up potato chip crumbs.
might just make for the best topping for this. But anyway, you decide. I mean, you guys are after all the Sally Bowls of your casseroles.
And since life is a cabaret, you get to use whatever you want. But no matter what you use, once those are spread over, I like to poke them down just a little bit with the side of the spoon. And that's it.
Our tuna noodle casserole is now ready to transfer into the center of a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or so, or until the top is beautifully golden brown and we can see a little bit of bubbling going on around the edge. And that's it. We should probably let that sit and rest for about 10 minutes. before grabbing a spatula and cutting out a nice square.
And just to make me feel a little bit better, promise me you'll have this with some kind of green salad on the side. But anyway, we'll serve that up. Whoops, I lost a noodle. Don't worry, I got it. And then once we have that plated up, I like to garnish this with absolutely nothing.
Okay, just grab a fork and dig in to what I think is just an absolutely incredible, profoundly comforting, and very, very satisfying casserole. Okay, it's kind of decadent without being too heavy. And because our sauce wasn't too thick when we put this together, I think the texture on this is just right.
And speaking of texture, having all those crispy cheesy crumbs on the top doesn't hurt. But anyway, that's it. My very basic straightforward take on the tuna noodle casserole.
And earlier I said this was the king of the comfort food casseroles, except for maybe mac and cheese. But you know what, if you give me a choice between the two, I'm going to pick this one every time. Alright, basically this is mac and cheese with benefits. Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.
So please follow the links below for the ingredient amount, a printable written recipe and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy!