RECIPE: Cheesy Tuna Casserole (and a better-than-that version)

My pictures look a bit better, don't they? I've been forcing myself to stand across the room and using the zoom feature on the camera to get close up and feeling like I ought to be setting up those big things that look like inverted white umbrellas (what are those even for?) and murmuring to my food, "Work with me, babe! The camera loves you and you love the camera. SHOW ME SOME CRUST!!!"

I'm sorry to say that this casserole wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, so I'm going to post the original recipe I used last night, because it wasn't terrible. I mean, we ate it. Grudgingly. And we were really hungry because of Ash Wednesday being a fast day and all, so we were all like, "This sucks" even while we were tossing it down the hatch. But I'm also going to post a second recipe, one which works out what I perceived to be the kinks in this plan.

Actually, I think my biggest problem wasn't with the recipe. The sauce the tuna was in was actually very good. But the pasta I used? It was ALL WRONG. I used whole wheat penne, and I should have used just plain old elbow macaroni, the classic tuna casserole pasta. The penne was too big and led to a mouth-feel that was somehow unpleasant. I'm not sure why.

So! For your discernment, here are two tuna casserole recipes:

EASY TUNA CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

12 ounces pasta (approx. 6 cups), cooked and drained
2 cans albacore tuna, drained
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
½ cup mayonnaise
1 small onion, diced
1 large can French-fried onions

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked pasta, tuna, soup, cheese, peas, mayonnaise and onions and stir. Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle the French-fried onions on top, bake for five more minutes.

Makes 6 servings

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CHEESY TUNA-MELT CASSEROLE

My favorite sandwich in the whole world is a tuna melt, which is tuna salad with cheese on buttery grilled bread. In this recipe, some buttery elbow macaroni will have to take the place of the bread, but I plan to try this during Lent and see how it works.

I make my tuna salad with mayonnaise, diced celery and onion, some crushed dried dill weed and a tiny squirt of mustard. To make a tuna melt sandwich, I add a slice of cheese, of course. What I'm hoping this recipe will produce is a creamier casserole that isn't overpowered by the tuna, with the french-fried onions approximating the crunch of the grilled bread. Hence...

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked elbow macaroni

1 can albacore tuna, drained

2 cans cream of celery soup

½ cup mayonnaise

1 soup can warm water

1 teaspoon salad mustard

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1½ teaspoons dried dill weed

1 small onion, diced

1 large can french-fried onions

sprinkle of paprika, optional

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the soup, mayonnaise, water and mustard. Add the cheese, peas, dill weed and diced onion, stir. Fold in the macaroni and the tuna.

Pour into a well-buttered 9x13" casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for half an hour or until bubbly. Top with french-fried onions and bake for five more minutes. Sprinkle with paprika to give it a savory color if desired.

Makes six servings

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Now remember, I haven't ever actually made that second recipe. It's just based on correcting some things I felt went wrong with the first recipe, which we ate for dinner last night. It's also supposed to be a take on my favorite sandwich, an old-fashioned diner tuna melt. Who knows? That second recipe might be as yucky as the first one, but I can't imagine how that could be.

RECIPE: Parmesan-Garlic Tilapia

Thankfully, my husband works such insane retail hours, we don't sit down for dinner until 8:30 p.m., so when I wrote that post earlier today about not knowing what I was going to cook, I was actually not too terribly worried because it was five hours until everyone was expecting me to start shoving casserole dishes into the oven (or, perhaps more to the point, shoving cardboard platters of On-Cor Family Size Salisbury Steaks into the microwave.)

[Brief pause...]

Kayte, I am just kidding. I do not serve those nasty things to my family, although I used to, back in those halcyon days before you looked at me with big, sad eyes and said, "Oh, Shelley. Shelley. Please. Please, don't buy those awful things," which is around the same time you started giggling when I asked, in innocent surprise, "Whaddaya mean, Kraft doesn't make good cheese? What is good cheese, if not Kraft?" until you realized I was serious. And then you fainted.

[Resuming....]

So anyway, I figured I still had time to burn. I sat myself down upon the couch with a cup of tea at my elbow and my book propped on my lap and read cozily until oh-my-freakin'-gosh, it was 6:30.

So I went to the kitchen and prayed for some kind of magic to happen, which it didn't. St. Zita, where are you, girl? Then I opened the freezer door and a bag of frozen edamame came flying out as if self-propelled and hit me in the head, which didn't seem magical either. But then, when I picked the edamame bag up off the floor and started to stick it back into the freezer, I saw some flash-frozen tilapia. Yippee!!!

Problem solved!

I love tilapia because it goes with just about anything. I love flash-frozen tilapia because it tastes so good and is so easy to prepare, requiring all of fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. And I love being able to make something for dinner that everybody enjoys and which also looks as if I spent a lot of time cooking it. Which is kind of the complete opposite of the Julia Principle, which is make something for dinner that everybody enjoys, but which took seventeen hours to prepare, albeit with easily obtainable ingredients.

I think Julia would have liked this recipe, though.

PARMESAN-GARLIC TILAPIA

4-6 frozen tilapia filets

2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon water

1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
a bit of dried parsley, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375^o

Break the eggs into a shallow pan (I used a cake pan) and beat, add the water to combine. In a separate shallow pan (another cake pan, natch) pour the melted butter and then add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. This mixture will be very thick and a bit clumpy.

Rinse the tilapia filets in a bit of cold water and pat dry with a towel. Place each filet in the egg wash and then place it in the bread crumb-butter mixture, pressing the crumbs onto the top of the filet. Transfer the filet to a baking sheet that has been lightly oiled; repeat the process with the remaining filets. Sprinkle some dried parsley on the top of each filet.

Place the baking sheet in the heated oven and bake the filets for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with some lemon pepper. These filets are very pretty and make a nice presentation, being not at all pale and fishy and nekkid-looking.

RECIPE: Seafood Enchiladas à la Chi-Chi's

Oh, late lamented Chi-Chi's, bastion of Amerexican chain restaurant dining! I really miss eating there. I know, I know....many people turn up their noses at chain restaurants, but when you live in central Indiana and you have a small budget for dining out, you can develop a fondness for places like Chi-Chi's, the Olive Garden and Outback Steakhouse. I know that the food served in those places is inauthentic and mass produced, but my philosophy is "who cares, if it tastes good?"

And some of it is very good indeed, such as these seafood enchiladas, known as the Cancun. This is what I ordered nearly every time we went to Chi-Chi's and I have missed them wistfully. Until now, that is, because these are the real thing.

I made these enchiladas for dinner the other night (after finding the recipe on the internet) and my entire family swooned. But be warned - these are very, very rich. Next time, I'll cut the recipe in half, so you may want to take that into account if you want to prepare it yourself.

Seafood Enchiladas à la Chi-Chi's

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons lobster base*
3 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 cup white wine (use a sweeter white table wine or white zin, not a dry white)
8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
3 ounces frozen salad-style shrimp, thawed
1 lb flake-style crab meat or 2 8-ounce packages imitation flake-style crab meat
10 6-inch flour tortillas

Directions:

To prepare the enchilada sauce

Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat and add the flour to make a roux. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir for 4-5 minutes. Add white pepper and lobster base, cooking and stirring for another minute. Turn the heat back up to medium and add the wine. Allow the wine to simmer gently for about five minutes so that the alcohol can burn off, leaving only the taste. Add the milk and 2 ounces of the cheese and continue to cook until the sauce has thickened. Once thickened, remove from heat so that the sauce won't scorch. Set it aside so that it will stay warm because you're almost ready to use it.

To prepare the seafood mixture

Chop the crab meat into small chunks place in a medium mixing bowl with the thawed shrimp. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the sauce and set aside.

To prepare the enchiladas

Preheat the oven to 425⁰F and spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. While the oven heats, gently warm the tortillas in the microwave on a microwave-safe plate between sheets of paper towel, about 90 seconds or so (although microwaves differ; these need to be warm but not hot.)

Once the tortillas are warm and flexible, start by placing one tortilla on a flat surface in front of you, such as a large cutting board or pastry slab. Place about 2 or 3 tablespoons of the seafood mixture in a vertical line on the tortilla; flip the upper and lower ends inward and then roll the tortilla from left to right. This takes a little practice, so don't think badly of yourself if you're all thumbs. I certainly was. My enchiladas looked like they'd been rolled by a chimpanzee. Who'd been smoking funny cigarettes.

Proceed in the same manner with the rest of the tortillas, placing them side by side in the baking dish. When all ten have been rolled (I had some seafood mixture left over), cover with the warm sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 13-15 minutes; remove from oven and serve on warm plates; sprinkle with paprika and serve.

This recipe, in my family's opinion, serves ten. That was a lotta enchilada, hahahaha. *ahem* Sorry.



*Lobster base can be bought at many grocery stores in the aisle with the soup and bouillon. The brand I bought was called "Better Than Bouillon" and it was soooo ugly in the jar -- it looked like used motor oil with a red crayon melted in it -- but it smelled like absolute heaven. And when you stir it into the roux and add the wine....blissful!!!!

If you can't find lobster base at your grocery store, you can purchase the Better Than Bouillon (Superior Quality Foods) for $5.95 plus shipping at Amazon.com. It really is necessary to achieve the authentic taste of the dish, so it would be a worthy purchase. Plus, there's a recipe for Lobster Bisque on the label that sounds divine.

RECIPE: Tilapia Filets in Garlic-Lemon Butter Sauce

I made tilapia filets for dinner the other night and we were all really pleased with how delicious they were. Living in Indiana, we're really not accustomed to eating anything that isn't made of cow, pig or chicken. Seafood scares us.

But several of my friends have told me of the wonders of tilapia, saying that it is mild, non-fishy and easy to prepare. "Easy to prepare" is always a nice sound in my ear, so last week at the grocery we bought some nice flash-frozen filets.

The recipe for the butter sauce couldn't have been easier. Here's what I used:

6 tablespoons of butter

3 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried parsley OR 1 tablespoon fresh parsley

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

paprika


I sautéed the minced garlic in the butter until the butter was a little bit brown, then added the lemon juice and parsley and gave it a bit of a stir. When it was all combined and smelling very savory, I tipped about half the sauce onto a foil-covered baking sheet that had also been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Once that was done, I placed four frozen filets on the butter sauce and then poured the rest of it over the fish, sprinkling them with the paprika, which adds some nice color along with the wilted parsley leaves and the pepper.

I cooked the filets at 400⁰ F for twenty minutes, until the fish was cooked through the middle and flaked when tested with a fork.

This simply couldn't have been easier. It tasted really good and everyone said they'd like to have it again, which pleased me greatly. That is the FIRST TIME in the twenty-three years since I left the care and protection of my parents' home that I have cooked any kind of fish other than fish sticks or Tuna Helper, no kidding.

RECIPE: Friday Bean Burritos & Corn Pudding

For some reason, we haven't yet had these yummy bean burritos for dinner on a Friday this Lent, but they are really good. The only caveat in this recipe is that you have to make sure you buy the vegetarian-style refried beans because regular refried beans are made with lard. I don't know if the lard used in the refried beans (which makes them delicious, thankyouverymuch) counts as a meat product or not -- I know that soups made with a meat based broth like chicken stock are a no-no, but lard? Better err on the side of the purity of the fast though, right?

Anyway, I usually serve these with corn pudding. Or if I'm lazy, chips and salsa. Although a salad with sliced red peppers, some onion and ripe olives wouldn't go amiss, particularly if you served it with ranch dressing that's had a tablespoon of jalapeno pepper juice stirred into it. Mmmm!

Friday Bean Burritos

1 package burrito-sized flour tortillas

1 can vegetarian-style refried beans (I like Old El Paso brand, but if you're a purist in things like this, you could always make your own.)

3 green onions, finely diced (or more, if you really like lots of onions)

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar, colby-jack OR pepper jack cheese

picante sauce


Directions:

Place refried beans in a small saucepan and add a couple of tablespoons of water. Heat on stove until beans steam and emit small bubbles -- they are too thick to boil, so watch them carefully. I highly recommend that your spray your little saucepan with cooking spray beforehand.

Place tortillas in a microwave-friendly tortilla steamer (available at your grocery) with paper towel dividing each tortilla. You can also place the paper-divided tortillas on a dinner plate, inverting another plate over them for the same effect. Heat tortillas until they are steamy hot.

Have diced green onions, shredded cheese and other desired additions -- sliced black olives, jalapeno peppers, sour cream -- ready.

To make burritos, place a hot tortilla on a heated plate in front of you; spread a small amount of beans in a horizontal line from side to side. Sprinkle with cheese and onions; add some picante sauce. Ask the person whose burrito you are crafting if they'd like any additional items. If they want them, add to burritos in small amounts.

To roll the burrito, fold the right hand side of the tortilla about 1/3 of the way over towards the middle. Take the top of the burrito and fold it down over the beans, cheese, etc. Then roll the burrito from bottom to top, as tightly as you can without tearing the burrito. Serve to grateful family member or friend. Garnish with a scoop of corn pudding, if you're feeling frisky.

That's how they used to roll 'em at the late lamented Chi-Chi's, the best American Tex-Mex chain restaurant, like, ever. *sob!*

Corn Pudding

Super-easy and so good. Known as 'corn cake' at Chi-Chi's, I prefer the term 'corn pudding' because it seems to fit the consistency better.

1 can corn, undrained
1 can creamed corn
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg, beaten
1 stick butter
1 can of sliced green chilies, drained (optional)

Spray an 8x8 casserole with cooking spray. Heat oven to 375^o F. Cut stick of butter into chunks and place in casserole; put casserole into oven and allow butter to melt. When melted, remove pan from oven and add both cans of corn, beaten egg and package of muffin mix (and chilies, if desired). Stir until all ingredients are combined. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes or until top is golden and center is set.

Serve with an ice cream scoop, creating an adorable mound on the heated plate. Or just dig into it with a big ol' serving spoon and splat a serving down on each plate. This recipe makes, I think, about eight servings. But don't hold me to that. It all depends on the size of your ice cream scoop, and/or the energy with which you dig into the casserole dish.

RECIPE: Easy Friday Spaghetti

This is always a favorite on Fridays during Lent at our house, with the girls and my husband, anyway. I much prefer my incedibly delicious broccoli-rice casserole (sorry, Miss Kayte -- it contains cream o' mushroom soup), but this isn't bad, by any means. Even better, it's easy-peasy. And it can be jazzed up or kept as simple as you'd like it to be.

This recipe serves four people, by the way, so if you have to feed more than that, just double all the ingredients.

Easy Friday Spaghetti

1 jar marinara sauce

1 T. dried oregano, crushed

1/4 t. dried basil, crushed

1/4 t. dried thyme, crushed

pasta for four, in any shape you find appealing

Optional items:

1 small can sliced mushrooms, undrained OR 1 fresh portobello, washed and diced

1 small onion, diced

1 t. crushed red pepper


Decant marinara sauce into a medium saucepan and add herbs, as well as any other optional items you'd like to include. Heat very gently -- this sauce will splatter your cooktop unmercifully. Cook the pasta with a generous amount of salt and a dab of oil. Serve spaghetti with warm garlic bread or a baguette with olive oil and a little green salad. Very yummy, very easy.

RECIPE: Egg Salad

One of our favorite lunches on Fridays during Lent is egg salad. This is one of those beloved comfort foods, for me dating back to my college days at Ball State. My friend Jennifer and I would lug all our books down to the Dugout, a little cafe in the basement of Studebaker Hall where she lived and sit in a booth and study, eating egg salad sandwiches on white bread with glasses of the coldest milk ever. Dee-licious! Those were happy days, fondly remembered. Jen, who was worried back then that she'd fail out of the BSN program for lack of being able to administer an injection into an orange, is now a nurse at a big hospital in Indianapolis. And I am, well, me.

I don't really have a recipe for this, so all amounts are approximate. If it isn't creamy enough for your liking, add another dollop of mayonnaise. If you prefer it less tart, cut back on the mustard. That's one of the great beauties of egg salad -- you can adjust the ingredients in various ways and still have a tasty final product. We've found that the only thing you can really add too much or too little of is salt.

Egg Salad

6 eggs, hard cooked and de-shellified

3/4 c. mayonnaise

2 T mustard + a couple of extra squirts

1/4 tsp celery seed (can substitute one stalk of diced celery)

1/2 tsp dried dill weed, crushed

salt to taste (eggs need a lot of salt, so add, stir and taste until you have it as you like it. Ha! I threw some Shakespeare in there!)

Optional ingredient: stir in about ten sliced green pimiento olives. Make sure to cut down on the salt you add if you choose this option


In a medium-sized mixing bowl, smoosh eggs with a fork. Or if you have one of those fancy chopper doo-dads like my mom does, use that instead. Add remaining ingredients, except for salt. Add salt in 1/8 teaspoon increments and stir, tasting after each addition.

Makes six nice sandwiches. Serve on toasted bread or on plain, soft white Wonder Bread. In the summer, however, this is also really good on a quartered ripe tomato.