That sounds a lot like what my wife makes. Many years ago, in my youth, my girlfriend then would make a tuna casserole that was a layered dish. I don’t remember just what all was in it, but tuna straight from the can was in it, and it had a layer of potato chips in it or on top. I don’t think that it was baked at all, but Cheese Whiz and Velvetta were big thing back then, maybe it had a layer of that and a quick trip to the over to melt it down through the layers. I sure wish I had that recipe now. Anybody have anything like that?
From my research today on tuna casserole recipes they are almost all pretty much the same, although it looks like each cook has added their own variation to the basic recipe.
The basic recipe includes:
1 package of egg noodles cooked
1 can of creamed soup (celery, mushroom, or chicken)
1-3 cans of tuna depending on how much you want mixed in the casserole.
Some cooks thin the soup with a little cream or milk while others don’t dilute it at all.
Some add two cups of shredded cheddar or other cheese, or chunks of velveeta, and I did even find one recipe that used cheese whiz and some don’t use any cheese at all.
Some add a couple of handfulls of vegetables(usually peas) and some don’t.
Toppings used vary from person to person so you can take your pick: more shredded cheese and/or, bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, potato chips, and one even had toasted nuts on top.
Most cooks bake it in an oven anywhere from 300-350 degrees for 30 minutes to an hour. Some cover it with foil until the last 10-15 minutes of the cooking time.
Some recipes make layers of noodles, tuna, and cheese (if used) and vegetables (if used), while others just mix everything together except for the topping.
I did find that some recipes leave off the topping and just mix everything together except for the pasta and heat it on the stove top and then fold in the cooked pasta and serve it without any topping or any baking in the oven.
Most chefs will tell you that you shouldn’t ever put cheese of any kind with fish, although they do this in the south all the time. I just go with what I like. One of my favorite sandwiches is shrimp, crab, or salmon salad on top of a toasted english muffin and topped with a slice of cheddar cheese that is melted under the broiler. So if you like cheese and tuna together add the cheese to your recipe and if you don’t leave out the cheese.
I would just use the basic recipe using canned soup or make your own cream sauce or bechamel sauce and add what you like to it.
For those who don’t know how to make a bechamel sauce it is really easy. Melt butter in a pan and add about an equal amount of flour to the pan once it is melted and stir together for about a minute to get the flour taste out of the roux. Add milk (or cream for a richer sauce) and continue stirring until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper and what ever seasonings you like. Most of the time I add salt, pepper, paprika, and a dash of nutmeg.
My family likes it best with a few dashes of hot pepper sauce as well. Sometimes I use this same sauce and leave out the paprika and hot pepper sauce, and add garlic and several kinds of grated cheese to it to it to make an easy alfredo sauce.
The later is also good by leaving out the cheese and adding cream cheese or sour cream to the basic sauce and stirring in some cooked pasta. For a main dish throw in some chicken or shrimp and perhaps a few veggies and you have a main dish.