Weekend Dinner - Tuna Casserole

I wasn't exposed to my first casserole dish until I moved to the United States @ age 12; I think it was a green bean casserole that time.  I didn't understand why people would want to throw a bunch of stuff into a glass plate & then stick it into the oven for an hour.  Dude, it's beans!  They cook in like 10 minutes!  And why the heck would you cook beans with cream soup?!?  The concept of a casserole befuddled me & I wasn't exposed to it again until a couple of years ago the Boyfriend made me tuna casserole.  While still confused about the whole deal, I was hooked.

We don't make this dish very often since he doesn't really like canned tuna, but we do it sometimes when we want something that we can make a big batch of in very little time & not have to stand over it as it is cooking (maybe that's the motivation behind a casserole?).

The ingredients are simple...

     3 cups medium shell pasta

     10 ounces canned tuna in water, drain & flake

     1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

     3/4 cup water

     11/2 cup frozen vegetables

     Salt & pepper to taste

The steps are even simpler...

     Cook the shell pasta according to the instructions on the package

     In a baking dish, combine tuna, Cream of Mushroom soup, water, salt & pepper

     Once the pasta is cooked, drain it & add it to the baking dish

     Add in the frozen vegetables & mix everything together

     Bake at 350F for 1 hour, uncovered

And there it is.  A great way to add some texture to this otherwise soft dish is to crunch up some potato chips & add it on top; I particularly like using barbecue flavored chips. The top of the pasta gets a little dry from the oven which makes me think I should cover the dish for most of the hour.  But would that make the dish more soupy?  Or maybe I should use more water?