Not Your Average Tuna Casserole

This past week I made another set of casseroles for the freezer (and for the day's dinner).  While I call it a Tuna Casserole, it really only contains a nominal amount of tuna (a fifth of a can per portion).  The remainder of the casserole is a selection of vegetables, herbs, a bit of cheese, sauce and pasta.  I had a quick peek online, and actually saw a recipe which involved a box of Kraft Dinner, a can of tuna, a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup, and a bag of chips!

 

Much of the food we make here traces back to a start with a mirepoix of celery, onion and carrot, though often, as here, chard ribs, parsley, and celery leaf herb stands in for the celery (they grow wonderfully well here in the garden, even overwintering and allowing for a small, continual harvest as well as a real spring harvest - celery and celery root are a bit of a trial and go mushy once the weather gets chilly).

 

Add in some tuna, diced tomato, corn, peas, mushrooms, al dente pasta, and Alfredo sauce (or some type of cream sauce - traditionally a cream soup).  We bough the Alfredo sauce almost a year ago when it was on special -impulse buy!-  expecting to use it for a quick pasta dinner, and there it sat.  It worked just fine as a stand-it.

I mixed spices, parmesan, shredded cheddar, and buttered breadcrumbs together, and added them to the casserole to help bind things together and add flavour.

 

I topped the casseroles with a bit more of the breadcrumb mixture, and there you go, 32 portions of vegetable/tuna casserole!