The flavor seems to come primarily from fat and salt. To make this more healthy and more flavorful, try the following:
1. spray the dish with non-stick spray rather than using butter
2. reduce the butter for sauteeing to 2 teaspoons
3. replace the milk with 1 cup of reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth and 1 cup of low-fat evaporated milk
4. add 1/2 teaspoon (or more) of crushed marjoram or thyme leaves
5. add 1/8 teaspoon of ground red pepper to the roux and reduce the butter in the roux (you can cut in half and still successfully blend in the flour). Also, add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg to the roux. This is standard for a white sauce.
6. Use light cheese for the topping, preferably highly flavored such as asiago or extra sharp cheddar.
5 stars with these adjustments: Spray baking dish with cooking spray instead of butter. Double recipe for 9 x 13 pan. Added 1tsp each:thyme nutmeg and crushed red pepper. Doubled garlic. Minced mushrooms (So the kids wouldn't know!!) Put a splash of white wine in with the veggies as the sauteed. Omitted peas (don't like them). Added 1/4 cup of parmesan ,1/4 package of cream cheese and half the cheddar cheese to the sauce.Added 1/2cup of quartered cherry tomatoes. Topped with remaining cheese then topped with corn flakes instead of bread crumb mixture. IT WAS TO DIE FOR!!!!!We loved it from ages3 to 31!
YUM!!! Very Impressed. I am very bored with searching for recipes only to find bulk ingredient is canned soup. I enjoy cooking from scratch, and this is perfect. If you are used to canned soup tuna casserole, and you try this recipe, you will NEVER go back.
I changed very few things and just finished this for dinner. I didn't add mushrooms (not a fan), and added just a sprinkle of celery seed.
I also used a little more cheese, more like a 1 1/4 cup of cheese. I added half of the cheese to the "cream" and melted it like you would do with macaroni and cheese. Then added the other half to the top like the recipe called for.
I read other reviews mention the use of crackers instead of bread crumbs, and I did that as well.
This recipe is going into the keep pile, THANKS!
I think that with two changes this is a five star recipe. Add a chicken boullion cube to your cream sauce, which adds a LOT of flavor, and top with french fried onions instead of the bread crumbs. I will NEVER go back to casserole out of a can--this is absolutely delicious and the leftovers are even better!
This recipe is good as it is. If it was meant to not have butter, then it wouldn't. Never understood why some people feel the need to critisize a recipe for being unhealthy, there are hosts of "healthy" recipes to be found. Some of us like butter!
We think this dish has a lot of potential, and I'm sure I'll make it again. As is, however, it's just sort of...blah. I kept adding salt in an effort to stir up the flavors, but it just didn't happen. Before attempting this again, I'll figure out what seasonings will work to make it more flavorful. My husband did comment that it doesn't have the typical soup taste to it, which is a great thing!
4-11-06: I made this again tonight, and it was a lot better! I added some fresh dill, as dill is really good paired with just about any fish. I also tripled the amounts of garlic and black pepper that went into it; it was very flavorful this time around. I've added this to my recipe book with my additions.
It's a keeper! I did make some shortcuts: after I finished the mushrooms, I added the butter then the flour right to the mushroom mix. I cooked that for about 3-5 minutes and then added the milk. After the noodles cooked for 4 minutes, I added the frozen peas to the pot and cooked the peas and noodles together for another 4 minutes. After draining both, I put the tuna in the noodle pot, poured the noodles and peas on top, added the cheese and stirred. Then I added the mushroom mix, stirred and put it all in a casserole dish. I omitted the salt from the recipe and topped the casserole with crushed potato chips as I didn't have bread crumbs. I love recipes that don't include a "cream of something" can of soup! (I used leftover haddock from the fridge and it was great; I suppose you could use any fish!)
This is really great and SUPER easy. I only changed one thing, and that was substituting 2 cans of chicken in place of the tuna..(for some reason people here think they don't like hot tuna!;)) I think I'd also make a bit more of the gravy mixture next time because I'd have liked it a little creamier, but considering I didn't really put exactly 8oz of noodles in, (dumped more on accident)it is probably the reason it wasn't as creamy. Anyway, excellent recipe. Thanks for submitting it!
Why is that casserole recipes never call for enough sauce? When I mixed everything together, prior to baking, it looked quite nice and juicy. I should have stopped there and eaten the dish as pasta with tuna sauce. The baking dried it out completely. I would also suggest using more tuna as to me it tasted more like a 'peas in white sauce with pasta casserole'. I am also always suspicious when recipes call for a flour-thickened sauce to put over pasta. They ususally turn out too 'bready'. I think it would be nicer to use thick cream instead of milk here, and omit the flour. Also, more spices and herbs would be nice, I think. Garlic, parsley and lemon would make it more interesting. The way it's written it's a bit bland and definitely dry and I am not looking forward to finishing the leftovers tomorrow night.
