You see when I was a kid, my mom made tuna casserole. You know the kind I'm talking about. Cream sauce, noodles, peas, baked up in the oven. Or if she was in a hurry it was a one pan stove top meal. Possibly with a little "helper" mixed in.
My memories may be warped, but I think I liked the stuff. The thought of making it now though turns my stomach just a teeny tiny bit. I was looking up recipes and almost every time I asked somebody how they made tuna casserole, or found a recipe somewhere 'cream of something or another' soup was used.
I don't cook with soup.
So in an effort to make an inexpensive, quick dinner, using the forever handy and in the pantry tuna and pasta, I came up with this gem.
Like a lot of things I make, I see what I have handy in my fridge and my herb garden. I will tell you what I did, but really I think pretty much any spring or summer vegetable that you have in the garden or handy in your refrigerator will be fine.
unfortunately, even though I was taking pictures, hoping this dish would turn out I failed to write anything down. But it was pretty easy, and I can see all my ingredients in my pictures for the most part. SO......
Here's what I did
Tuna with Pasta
1 bag of pasta, I used rotini
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped small
2 cans of tuna packed in olive oil
1 red bell pepper cut bite sized
1 medium sized bunch of asparagus tender tops cut bite sized
1 cup, more or less to your liking, grape tomatoes cut in half
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 cup each Italian parsley and basil chopped
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Heat a large nonstick frying pan on medium heat. Add olive oil, when heated add garlic. Stir and heat for about 30 seconds then add tuna with the oil. Break up the tuna into small pieces and stir to incorporate the garlic, oil and tuna together. Heat through about 2 minutes
Add the bell pepper, stir and heat for 1 minute. Add asparagus, stir and heat for 1 minute.
Drain pasta and add directly to the pan, reserving some pasta water to thin out pasta tuna mix if necessary.
Now add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, lemon juice and herbs. Stir to make sure everything is mixed together well. If it's thick add a bit of the pasta water. Taste, season if necessary.
I could taste every ingredient, no heavy cream sauce hiding the wonderful flavor of this great spring meal.
One of the best things about this dinner, the ingredients are pretty much always handy and inexpensive.
This one is a keeper.
Happy eating.
