Tuna Casserole

 

This month at Belleau’s Kitchen Dom moved away from cookbooks from the random recipe this month. To pick the Random Recipe this month, Dom instructed us to randomly pick a recipe from our cuttings, memories, and clippings. My mom has a whole stack of recipes scribbled down on pieces of paper, magazine clippings, and the like. But the closest I have to anything of this sort is a recipe box of recipes I made, enjoyed, and wrote down. I have too big of a problem cutting my magazines apart, so I wind up keeping the entire magazines.

Dom, you should do a random food magazine round up one month, because I have a ton of those.

Since I don’t really have any clippings, I went the “memory” route. I closed my eyes and pulled a recipe out of my bright red recipe box. I have no idea where this recipe came from, but I’d made it in the past and oh my god, so easy. For the minimal amount of effort this dish takes to make, it tastes delicious.

Tuna Casserole

Ingredients
2 cups dry pasta
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
bread crumbs, as needed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Boil water in a pot. Add the pasta and cook until al dente and drain. Mix the tuna, cream of mushroom soup, and cheese in with the pasta. Pour into a casserole dish and cover with bread crumbs as desired. Bake for 15 minutes.

* serves 2
* Besides Random Recipes, this dish has been shared with Tried and True Recipe Party, Weekend Cooking, & Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Fish Pie

This month over at BakeBakeBake the challenge is British. Frankly, my experience with British food is very small. All I can think of is fish and chips. But a baked British dish? Google was required to find something to meet the challenge! Fish pie is a pie made with white fish. It is a traditional British dish. Upon googling I found Jamie Oliver’s Fish Pie recipe, using a combination of fish, shrimp, carrots, celery, lemon, tomato, spinach, and mashed potatoes.

I was skeptical, but clearly I had no reason to be. This dish was time consuming (until it went into the oven) but came out perfectly with a beautiful crispy potato topping.

Fish Pie

Ingredients
2 lbs white potatoes, cut into pieces
1 carrot, shredded
2 sticks celery, shredded
5 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 lemon
2 1/4 lbs tilapia, cut into pieces
4 oz shrimp, cleaned and peeled
olive oil
1 handful baby spinach
2 tomatoes, quartered

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 12 minutes. Once the potatoes are tender, mash together with several glugs of olive oil.

2. Place the grated carrot, celery, and cheese together in a baking dish. Zest the lemon into the baking dish. Cut the tilapia into bite size pieces. Mix the tilapia, shrimp, spinach, and tomatoes in with the grated vegetables.

3. Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the dish. Bake for 40 minutes.

* serves 6
* shared with Tasteful Tuesday Party, Tasty Tuesdays,  Tempt My Tummy, & Recipe Box 

Green Tea Soup

 

This month at this blog’s monthly Pantry Party, the theme is soup! Essentially the goal is to look into your pantry and make a dish that meets the theme with at least one (or more!) things found in your pantry. This month I relied on two pantry items to make soup.

- Rice
- Green tea

I also now have a new addition to my pantry: nori.

I was skeptical of this dish when I first started. But I was intrigued by this recipe from Sunset magazine. The idea of my broth being green tea seemed so odd, but.. I had to try it! I ended up adding some soy sauce to the broth because I felt like it needed a salt element to it. The addition of the soy sauce was perfect. I was so full after this bowl of soup.

Don’t forget to enter this month’s soup themed Pantry Party! I’d love to see what other soups came out of pantries this month. Entries are due by the 28th.

Green Tea Soup
(source)

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked basmati rice
1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 sheet nori, cut into strips
1 green onion, chopped
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 lb swai (or other white fish), cut into 2 fillets
4 green tea tea bags
4 tsp soy sauce

Directions

1. In a rice cooker, cook the rice with 1/4 tsp of salt according to the rice cooker instructions.

2. Preheat the broiler. Rub your broiler pan with oil. Put your fish on the broiler pan and turn the fish over on the pan to get oil on both sides. Sprinkle remaining salt on the fish. Broil 3-4 inches away from the broiler until cooked through (when the fish flakes), about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

3. Bring 4 cups of water to boil, either in a pot or a teapot. Once boiling add the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. Remove the bags and stir in the soy sauce.

4. To pull your dish together, put 1 cup of rice into each bowl. Place a fish fillet on top of the rice. Pour half of the broth into each bowl. Garnish with green onions and nori.

* serves 2
* Besides Pantry Party, this recipe is shared with Food of the Month Club, Souper Sundays, Tasteful Tuesday Party, Recipe Box, Tasty Tuesdays, & Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Tuna and Rice Patties

 

Fried patties may not be the most healthy things to be eating when I’m trying to eat healthy, but I felt like I could justify it with the salad on the side (of arugula, spinach, pine nuts, tomato, and dressing.) My goal for the year 2013 is to try to have vegetables with every dinner. I’ve been really bad about loading up on carbs. So.. I’m trying to minimize it. Excuse all the dressing. I’m new at this!

The addition of the sun-dried tomatoes in the patties added a great dynamic. The original recipe called for canned salmon, but since I had canned tuna in my house I substituted that instead. I love tuna, so no complaints.

The rest of these patties are going to be served on a ciabatta roll for breakfast tomorrow.

Tuna and Rice Patties

Ingredients
2-5 oz can white albacore tuna
1 1/2 cup rice, cooked
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomato, chopped
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup breadcrumbs for coating
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a small pan saute the onion and sun-dried tomato until the onions are tender. Let cool.

2. Combine the tuna, rice, the onion mixture, egg, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, and Worcestershire sauce into a bowl. Mix with your hands until well combined.

3. Heat the oil in a medium sized frying pan.

4. Form the patties and coat them in breadcrumbs.

5. Cook the patties on medium heat, 7 minutes per side or until golden brown.

* serves 4, 3 patties per serving
* Shared with Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday, Weekend Potluck, & Freedom Fridays

Fried Rice Two Ways

 

Since Monday this week was a holiday, I had time to make dinner and didn’t need to rely on the slow cooker. But just because Monday allowed enough time to make dinner, Tuesday still did not. Because of this, I knew I needed to make enough dinner Monday to have on Tuesday and also to change the dish up a bit so I could have it two ways.

Clearly I’m not very good at keeping up with challenges I keep for myself (as you can see my 52 Week Around the World Challenge) ended short, but at least through this semester there should be a dish a week that I make two ways just because my schedule sort of forces it.

This fried rice made use of the crystallized ginger Rose sent me a few months ago in my Foodie Pen Pal box. Because it was cut up very fine, it wasn’t overpowering but to get a piece of that sweet ginger was excellent in the rice.

 

Day 2 got a bowl of fried rice soup, which was an easy way to make the dish into something else. In retrospect though, it could have used more broth.

Day 1: Fried Rice
Day 2: Fried Rice Soup

Fried Rice

Ingredients
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups shrimp, shelled, deveined, and cut into pieces
1 10-oz package frozen peas
3 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp white wine
2 tbsp crystallized ginger, finely chopped
4 tsp toasted sesame oil

DAY 2 EXTRA INGREDIENTS
1 cup chicken broth

Directions

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until medium. Combine the eggs and pour into the skillet. Cook, stirring, until scrambled, about 1 minute. Break into small pieces and transfer to a bowl.

2. Add another tbsp of oil. Add the onion and the garlic to the pan, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and peas. Cook until the shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the eggs.

3. Heat the remaining tbsp of oil in the skillet of medium-high heat until hot. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until crispy.

4. Stir together the soy sauce, white wine, ginger, and sesame oil. Add to the skillet along with the egg. Cook until heated through.

5. DAY 1 INSTRUCTIONS: Serve as is.
DAY 2 INSTRUCTIONS: Heat the chicken broth and the rice in a large pot until simmering. When warm, serve.

* makes 4 servings of rice (DAY 1 & DAY 2 each make 2 portions)
* DAY 1 CALORIES: 498 calories per serving
* DAY 2 CALORIES: 503 calories per serving

Lime Shrimp Fried Rice

 

I have a thing about lunches. I hate leftovers. I don’t really like sandwiches unless they’re purchased from a deli and the only thing I did in the creation of the sandwich was fork over some money. I really like my lunches to be just as delicious as my dinners – just different from my dinners.

My coworkers go out to eat so often. I really save money eating the way I do and I probably end up being a lot more satisfied than they are. When school starts next week I’m going to make sure I bring lunch with me on those days I’m on campus all day also, because cafeteria food and my stomach don’t always make the best pair.

Lime Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients
2 cups rice, uncooked
2 3/4 cups water
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 garlic clove, minced
6 oz shrimp
1/3 cup green onions, minced
1 cup cucumber, diced
1 cup tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp sesame oil
6 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 jalapeno, seedeed, devined, and minced
2 tbsp lime juice

Directions

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or in a pot with the water. Once cooked remove and allow to cool.

2. Place 3 tbsp of vegetable oil and 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

3. Place the 3 tbsp of fish sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside and finish the rice.

4. Place a large skillet over high heat. Add the vegetable oil/sesame oil combination and heat.

5. Add the beaten eggs and create an egg “pool.”

6. Add the garlic on top of the eggs to prevent it from burning. With a spoon, life and stir the egg mixture to break up the eggs.

7. Add the cooked rice and continue to stir-fry until the rice begins to brown.

8. Sprinkle with the fish sauce/sugar combination. Continue to lift and stir the rice.

9. Add the shrimp, continuing to cook for about 8 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked all the way through.

10. Stir in the vegetables.

11. Stir together the jalapeno, lime juice, and remaining fish sauce. Whisk to combine. Stir into the rice mixture.

* serves 4
* 392 calories per serving

Tuna Noodle Casserole

 

My mom tells me stories all the time about how when she was a little girl she hated Friday night dinners because her mom would make tuna casserole. Because of my mom’s aversion to tuna casserole, I never really had it as a child. But as a broke student, tuna noodle casserole is easy to make and incredibly cheap to make.

I’m not sure why she hated it so much, because yum!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Ingredients
6 oz egg noodles uncooked
1 can of tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
parmesan cheese to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the noodles, tuna, mushroom soup, milk, peas, and cheese.

3. Spread into a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and parmesan.

4. Bake for 30 minutes.

* serves 4
* Shared with Presto Pasta Nights,

Baked Crab Cakes

This month over at bakebakebake the theme is seafood. I’m used to making sweet dishes for BBB entries, so at first I was really thrown off on what I should do. When I got my head into the right frame of mind I decided I would make a baked crab cake. I like crab cakes when they’re fried and crispy, so I wasn’t completely sure I would find a recipe that would capture that in a baked version. Additionally, I have never used canned crab before (only canned tuna,) but I couldn’t justify buying fresh crab.

Needless to say, they turned out great. I think the canned crab actually made these work really well, due to the texture. Additionally, despite being baked they still were really crispy. Also you will see Emeril’s Essence used in these! Basically until I use all the Essence I will be replacing it anywhere salt or Cajun seasoning is called for.

Baked Crab Cakes

Ingredients
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp mustard powder
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp Essence
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 eggs
12 oz canned crab meat

Directions

1. Preheat oven the 375 and grease a baking sheet. Set aside.

2. Combine breadcrumbs, baking powder, parsley, mustard powder, pepper, and Essence. Set aside.

3. Stir together mayonnaise, vegetable oil, Worcestershire sauce, and eggs until smooth. Fold in crab meat, then fold in bread crumbs until well blended.

4. Shape the mixture into about 12 crab cakes and placed on prepared baking sheet. They will seem kind of wet.

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip the crab cakes over and bake for 15 more minutes.

* makes about 12 cakes

Around the World in 52 Weeks: Fish Stew and Flat Bread

Despite my difficult making Congolese food last week, I was very happy with my kitchen’s trip to Algeria this week.

This week my kitchen teleported itself to Northern Africa. I made a fish stew, which while simple was packed with delicious, comforting flavors. I also made a flat bread. In the past, I have tried to make naan. Naan is my only experience with unleavened bread and while the naan was tasty, I just couldn’t get it right. Now, I don’t know if this Algerian flat bread is right. But it definitely was flatter than the flat bread I’ve made in the past. It also was full of flavor (thank you turmeric.)

For as much as I love turmeric, I think I need to be more careful using it because my fingernails are kind of stained yellow because of it.

The combination of the flavors of the soup and the bread was excellent, making a wonderful pair. It was a yummy trip this week. As I say every week, I am sure this is not even close to what authentic Algerian food is like. But it’s good nonetheless!

Fish Stew

Ingredients
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 0z canned whole, peeled tomatoes
1/2 tsp paprika
1 large potato, cubed
2 celery stalks, diced
4 cups chicken broth
2 tilapia fillets, cut into pieces

Directions

 1. In a pot heat the olive oil. Fry the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and tomatoes, and simmer until the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated. Add the paprika, potato, celery, and broth. Bring the soup to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Add the fish and cook for 10 more minutes.

* serves 2
* 350 calories per serving
* This soup is being shared with Kahakai Kitchen‘s Souper Sundays and KB and Whitesnake‘s Simply Delish Saturdays.
* Recipe came from here, with few alterations.

Flat Bread

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric

Directions

 1. Stir together the flour, salt, and 2 tbsp olive oil in a large bowl. Slowly stir in the water until a soft dough is formed. Knead the dough on a slightly floured surface for approximately 15 minutes.

2. Form the dough into a ball and coat with 2 tbsp olive oil. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand for an hour.

3. Stir together cumin, paprika, turmeric, and the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil.

4. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, keeping the pieces you are not currently working with covered with plastic. On a floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a 9-inch circle, getting it as thin as you can. Spread 1 tsp of the spiced oil on the dough with a pastry brush. Roll the dough up like a straw and then create a spiral with the dough.

5. Place your dough spiral between two pieces of parchment paper and flatten with the rolling pin, so that the dough is 6-inches.

6. Place a dry skillet over heat. Once hot place the flat bread in the skillet. Cook for about 2 minutes, until the bread starts to puff up. Flip and cook for about 2 minutes on the other side.

7. Continue until all the dough is used.

* makes about 12 pieces of flat bread
* 183 calories per piece of bread
* I followed the recipe here for how to make the bread.

I’d like to see people travel the globe with me.
Every Saturday I will be posting my recipe, as well as pictures to ethnic cuisines you have made and want to share.

- You must mention The Law Student’s Cookbook‘s Around The World In 52 Weeks in the entry you link. You can either use a link or use the banner.
- In your post you must  at least mention what cuisine the dish is.
- Email me your recipe at elizabeth@crabtech.net. Make sure to include:

* Your name or blog name
* The direct link to your post
* A picture of the dish or permission to pull a picture from the post

- Make sure to email me by Saturday at 12noon Pacific Standard Time

Egg Drop Soup

Soup soup soup! I’m all about it recently, as I’m sure you can tell by my recent posts. So rather than break away from the soup, here’s another recipe.

I probably shouldn’t eat this, because I have high cholesterol and egg is high in cholesterol… But shoot me. It tastes good.

Egg Drop Soup

Ingredients
6 cups chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
9 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 carrot, shredded
1 cup portobello mushrooms, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup peas, frozen

Directions

1. Combine the cornstarch and broth in a pot and whisk together until fully dissolved.

2. Turn heat up to medium and bring to a low boil. Add soy sauce and garlic and stir. Add the carrots and mushrooms, stirring and cooking for 2 minutes.  Add the shrimp and cook for 3 more minutes. Add the peas and stir.

3. Reduce heat to simmer. Slowly pour the beaten eggs into the soup. Stir.

* serves 2
* 364 calories per serving
* I shared this recipe with These Chicks Cooked Weekly Recipe Collection and What’s Cooking Wednesday?