Okay, this is the most recent Recipe Thread

[Sundae]

Please can I have your best recipe for low fat Tuna Pasta Bake (possibly Tuna Noodle Casserole in the US) Ideally with UK measurements, though if you have to use cups I can probably get by.

From memory, I used to soften an onion and garlic in olive oil, then add tuna and pasta which had just been brought to the boil and a tin of mushroom soup. I'd then top with spicy breadcrumbs and cook for 20 mins.

Exact recipe or just variations on a theme would be great - I'm cooking something every day now but lost a lot of low fat recipes in my last few moves.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Mmmh -- good one. Maybe I'd have to invent one, I don't know. I think both terms are used in the US. Looks like search time for both of us, doesn't it?

[Edit: on "tuna casserole recipe" alone I get one million fifty thousand hits. We oughtta be able to do something with that. What wine should we put 60ml of in the 'shroom soup?]

BTW, I've found I don't particularly care for putting tuna into Green Bean Casserole. It's edible, but the flavors don't really enhance each other -- they don't dance together. Seems it has to be either tuna at the center of it all, or else the beans/mushrooms/Tater Tots team.

Soo, if we don't find something we dream up variations to try. Probably one important part will be to enhance the dish's fiber content so there's plenty of satiation in a serving: whole wheat pasta noodles. We avoid using anything else in the house, trying to keep my blood sugar under control -- Metformin can do a lot, but doing things to keep blood glucose levels from getting all spiky-crashy -- which is a phenomenon that will put the pounds on -- is important too.

[Sundae]

I did search and got many hits also, but my problem was they were all US sites (with measurements foreign to me) and I was too lazy to vet them all for low fat solutions...

I just want something tried and tested from someone I trust.

[Clodfobble]

I'd love to help you out... but tuna (any kind other than sushi) is the work of the devil.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I think it's going to be a case of that one looks good, now what are the fats and what are my choices: reduce amounts? Change to unsaturated -- hey did Rachel Ray put EVOO in any of these?

Tuna casserole has got to be one of the more forgiving recipes known to humanity.

Where I'd start with this is rather twofold: whole wheat or other wholegrain pasta only to enhance the fiber, and halve the fat content. How lowfat is low fat, btw? What do you need to do? Keep an eye out for reduced fat cream of mushroom soup; I daresay somebody's making the stuff now. The Martha Stewart method takes more woman-hours: scratchbuild your own reduced cream of shroom.

{Now it's time for me to go untimely stimulating my appetite looking for cream of shroom recipes... off I go.}

She did!! It's not quite a casserole, but it could be done up as one, and is doubtless good either with its original chicken, or with tuna substituted for the chicken.

Another, similar idea, also from Rachel's site. Chicken again, probably work with tuna, and an effort at reducing the fat content. We may be getting somewhere. "1/2 cup (2 handfuls) shredded Italian 3-cheese mix" I suppose is equal parts Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago. (But that is a SWAG -- Stupid Wild Ass Guess.)

I did search the site for her Tuna Casserole Recipe. It's not at all low-fat. Got EVOO.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Awright -- from Cookingforengineers.com, Cream-of-Mushroom-Soup

This one has measures in metric as well as Yankee and features two of the big fatties: it's got both whole milk and a stick of butter in it, and some heavy cream so we gotta find a means of reducing these. Some recipes dispense with the cream, but I'm picking this one as a good candidate for fat reduction. And they stuck a leek in there too along with the onions -- the curious attractions just never end. Well, test it on a Welsh Nationalist next March maybe, for St. David's Day. We might try halving the butter and see what happens, and cutting the heavy cream half and half with nonfat yoghurt, blending the two into a thickish fluid and adding to the soup. I really don't know what changing skim milk for whole milk would do to or for a soup. Rigid experimental protocol would be doing a batch with each variation.

As you can see, I think we're going to have to experiment for ourselves. Hey, it gives a well rounded perspective to be both the mad scientist and the guinea pig. For tried, true and trustworthy, consider this: this guy's tried it, is quite talkative about how he evolved the recipe, and he seems really to like it.

Which OT reminds me I'm still rather looking around for vegetarian lentil soup recipes that aren't insipid. I'm very confident with my meaty lentil soup, but veggie lentil soups I've had... well, I want those minutes of my life back, dang it.

So, 'Fobble, no likee Tuna Casserole? Me likee tuna sushi, regular, yellowfin, and maguro. For the totally sashimi/sushi newbie, tuna sushi is how I would introduce them to raw fish.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

So, 'Fobble, no likee Tuna Casserole? Me likee tuna sushi, regular, yellowfin, and maguro. For the totally sashimi/sushi newbie, tuna sushi is how I would introduce them to raw fish.

Sushi is awesome. All other forms of tuna are catfood.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

But cats look really weird eating tuna fish sandwiches with both paws and spitting the diced celery across the room.

[Sundae]

Well I threw one together today that worked quite well, but I nearly fell asleep eating it, it was dull, dull, dull. Also the soup made it quite sweet - might try vegetable stock with fish sauce as a base next time. And definitely including red onions and chopped jalapenos.

1 tin tuna (in brine - drained)
1 small tin Weight Watchers tomato soup
handful of sweetcorn
added to 2 servings of parboiled pasta

all heated together
then topped with 1 (very thick) slice of granary bread made into breadcrumbs and mixed with a sprinkling of Cajun spices
small sprinkling of grated Cathedral City (very strong mature cheddar)

put under grill with oven door closed for 15 mins

it was nice to have a meal that took longer to eat than it did to prepare (2 servings meant it was lunch and dinner)
I think I'll keep playing around with it- thanks for the suggestions

btw, why in the name of all that's holy would you put celery in tuna sandwiches? BLEURGH!

[BigV]

Originally Posted by some furriner

btw, why in the name of all that's holy would you put celery in tuna sandwiches? BLEURGH!

Well. That shows just how provincial each of us is. I have an extremely low tolerance for UG's posts, and that particular remark, and that one struck me as particularly unnauseating. Hmmm.

[Griff]

I'm with the foreigner. Celery is the exact wrong texture when you're eating tuna.

[Cloud]

sweet pickle relish goes in tuna salad. or even dill pickle relish.

Cooked celery, like SG mentioned, is a different texture than raw, and goes fine in the tuna noodle casserole. What's she's describing is like a soffrito--i.e., a flavor base for the casserole.

I like raw celery in chicken salad, though.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Pickle relish in tuna salad. Well, hmmmm!

Now what I just found in today's paper falls under the heading of "God will provide." Today's Heloise column has a no-fat cream soup base. You make it, add in the -whatever to make today's cream-of-whatever soup.

Heloise Cream Soup Base

1 cup (237ml) nonfat dry Milk
1 TBSP (15ml) dried Onion Flakes
2 TBSP (30ml) Cornstarch
2 TBSP (30ml) Chicken Bouillon Powder
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) dried Basil
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) dried Thyme
1/4 tsp (1.3ml) Black Pepper
2 cups (475ml) water

Put all the above ingredients in a saucepan with the 2 cups cold water. Cook on medium heat, stirring continuously. Once it becomes thick, add your -whatever ingredient, like diced mushrooms or chopped celery or broccoli.

Making up the base and freezing it in batches for use in making cream-of-whatever soups is a good path. Thaw, add the ingredient, heat together and you have soup.

If the soup needs a thickening, add some instant mashed potato flakes a bit at a time -- or maybe real mashed potato? The -whatever vegetable pureed with a little bouillon will do the same thing.

[kerosene]

From cooks.com:

ANGEL FLAKE BISCUITS

1 pkg. dry yeast in 1/2 c. lukewarm water
5 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. sugar
3/4 c. shortening
2 c. buttermilk

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water; set aside. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and sugar. Cut in the shortening until it is well blended in with dry ingredients. Add yeast mixture and buttermilk together. Stir into dry ingredients. Make sure that you stir until it is well moistened. Do not over mix.

Roll out portion you will be using at 3/4 inch thick (use round cookie cutter). Place on greased pan and bake 12 minutes at 400 degrees. Remaining dough will keep in the refrigerator for several days in a well covered bowl.

Awesome. Used butter in place of shortening.

[jinx]

I've been on a huge shellfish kick lately. Mostly mussels (the mussels josephine at Bonefish grill are unbelievably good and numerous for $8), but driving past our local fish store saw frying and stewing oysters are on special. I don't like raw oysters, but both fried and stewed sounded really good to me.

So I've got some fryers here, gonna do them up for a late night snack. But I also want to make oyster stew at some point soon. I can find recipes online I'm sure, but I'm hoping to find some words of wisdom from the dwellars. Anyone have any tips based on their experience?