Tuna pasta bake

It may not be an elegant dish - but it's quick, easy and tasty ... what more could you want?

Ingredients from Todmorden market - pasta (gluten free and regular), tuna and garlic from The Mediterranean Pantry, veg from Kevin outside and cheese from The Crumbly Cheese.

Pasta
Olive oil
Red onion
Garlic
Red pepper
Mushrooms
Courgette
Cherry tomatoes
Frozen peas
Tuna
Cheddar

1.  Boil the pasta according to packet instructions, until al dente.
2.  Sautee veg, chopped into smallish pieces, in olive oil, for about 10 minutes.
3.  Drain the pasta and the tuna, mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Add a handful of frozen peas.  Splosh in a little olive oil if it looks too dry.
4.  Chop cheese into chunks and stir into the pasta mixture.
5.  Heap into an oven dish and bake for about 20 minutes.
6.  Serve, scoff

Baked potatoes with tuna - 3 ways

Baked potatoes and tuna - a simple supper - one many people have time and time again.  However, take three people, take three different sets of requirements ... and we all had a delicious dinner.

The basic bits were all the same - baked potato (fork the skin, rub with olive oil, then 20 minutes in the microwave, then 40 minutes in the oven).

Salads - 1.  mixed leaves with an olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard and herb dressing (greek salad seasoning mix available from theMediterranean pantry).

2.  Carrot salad - grate carrot, add onion seeds and a splosh of olive oil.

The three tuna fillings:-

1.  Tuna, spring onions and mayonnaise
2.  Tuna, celery, tomatoes, spring onion, olive oil
3.  Tuna, celery, spring onions, celery, capers, gherkin, a tiny splodge of mayonnaise

All easy, all delicious, all to suit our individual tastes.  yum.

Salad nicoise

New potatoes from the allotment - some carrots, an avocado, green beans and carrots from the veg box - and a lettuce - well - seemed obvious really!  We have been picking up eggs, free range, from local farms recently - what a difference - look at the colour of those yolks!

So ...

New potatoes
Green beans
eggs
Garlic
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Cos lettuce
Carrots
Avocado
Black olive
Tinned tuna (pole caught in spring water)

1.  Boil potatoes, steam green beans.
2.  Hardboil the eggs - when cooked - cool under running cold water and peel.
3.  Drain potatoes, mix with green beans, crushed garlic and olive oil.
4.  Mix washed lettuce with ribbons of carrot, and sliced avocado, toss in a little lemon juice and olive oil.
5.  Place salad around edge of large serving platter, pile potatoes and beans in the middle - arrange tuna and eggs, chuck on black olives.

Call that cooking .... hardly!

Tuna and chickpea paella

Stay for lunch they said.  Lovely, I said, don't mind if I do! so, who made the lunch?  Shrug!

That's not fair.  The victims in this case were my lovely parents who allowed me to come and park my bags with them in the evening, and go out for the night with old mates from school... to return after midnight, grunt and go to bed, so to rustle up a bit of lunch with their ingredients was a pleasure.  Thanks M&D.. heretoforth known as "victims".  There was a third victim, she is also related xx sis.

This recipe was adapted from another one... and I tweaked a lot, but significantly increased the tomato, rice and chickpeas and decreased the tuna.  If I made it again (which I would) I would reduce the tomatoes I used, but would keep to my proportions of other stuff.. and as usual measurements are vague, so just adjust to what you have.

Olive oil (about 3 tbsp)
Tuna (300g) - in big "bite size" pieces.
2 peppers, 1 red, 1 yellow, cut into 1.5cm x .5 cm slices (ish)
celery, chopped, about 3 stalks
spring onions - 1 bunch chopped (reserve about 1/4 for garnish)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red chili (the nice 4 inch long shiny, a bit sweet one ... not the firey bird eye type) finely chopped - again reserve a bit for the garnish if you fancy.
1 carton passata (use less for a more authentic, less gloopy dish)
1 pint(ish) fish stock
250g paella rice
1 tin chickpeas, drained
good pinch paprika
pinch saffron

1.  Heat paella pan (or whatever you are using) to quite hot.  Toss tuna pieces, gently, in olive oil.  Sear in hot pan.  Don't faff with them, let them brown, and if possible crisp, on each surface without overcooking.  It should talk no more  than 5-6 minutes - but let them rest enough to nearly caramelise on each surface.  You are aiming for a bit more than "seared" but not much more.
2.  When all tuna surfaces are browned, remove to a plate and cover loosely with foil or baking paper (you want to keep a VERY gentle cooking continuing, but you don't want to steam off any caramelisation).
3.  Add a little oil to the paella pan, add chopped celery, peppers and onion (and any other veg you wish to chuck in.  Stir a bit, on a moderate heat, until a little softenned.
4.  Add crushed garlic and finely chopped chili (or crumbled dried chili, which might be more authentic), keep stirring.  It should look glossy still.  If it doesn't, add a little more olive oil and stir in.
5.  Add rice.  Stir GENTLY, until every grain is covered in a film of oil, and the rice has started to cook a little.  The change is subtle, but it changes form white, to more or less translucent.  The veg mixture will mask this a bit, until you are familair with it - but basically keep stirring gently for a few minutes - don't let it catch on the bottom of the pan.
6. Add passata, stir again, gently.  It'll look sticky quite quickly.  When it starts bubbling again add the stock.  Now stir it confidently, bringing the rice from the bottom of the pan "de-glazing" as you go. (stirring the stubborn bits from the bottom of the pan into the mixture).
7.  Cooking time should now be about 12-15 minutes.  The mixture needs to simmer for a bit, on a low heat, with its lid on. [insert grumble,  Mum - that paella pan is too big for just 4 of us...me, no it's not, there's just a shallower mixture... etc etc... reality - I cook TOO MUCH - I used the lovely (and big enough) risotto pan, and still cooked too much, and in the wrong pan... yes well, I'm cooking it, and I'm trying to balance the flavours, and there are 4 of us not 2, and if we use less tuna, we can use more chickpeas....... etc  xx all)

8.  Add tuna bits... simmer 3 more minutes.
9. Leave to stand for 3(ish) minutes - scoff

with a green salad.

I enjoyed it - and gathered victims were unanimous (it's not family tradition to be vociferous) in praise.  So for my own judgement,  the tuna could have been cooked less -and more of a statement if it was in 1 piece.  but in summary --- BIG WIN!

NB.  From #5 you can leave to cool, and then pick up later ;) ... just make sure you have enough stock, so it doesn't all fry out

Tuna pasta salad

Had a lovely visit with some mates today, who were looking for easy, quick but tasty dinners - we found a few - and I chucked this together when I got home, so I thought I'd add it here too.  Took about 13 minutes, start to finish.

Pasta - I used shells
green beans
celery
olives
tomato gherkins
1 tbsp Mayonnaise
1 tbsp natural yogurt
1 tin tuna in spring water

1.  Chuck pasta into plenty of boiling water, after a couple of minutes add chopped green beans.
2.  Chop celery, tomato, black olives and gherkins (could also add any/all cucumber, spring onions, peppers, bean sprouts, shredded lettuce, radish...)
3.  Add tuna (drained), drain cooked pasta a beans, stir in with mayonnaise and yogurt (squeeze of lemon juice if you have any)

Scoff.  Simples.

Tuna salad

This is not even a recipe, as it's so easy - but I include it because I have seen people buying jars of tuna sandwich filler etc... and it is so easy, and more delicious to make it yourself.  To a can of drained tuna add chopped spring onion, celery, roast red pepper, cucumber, radish and gherkin.  Mix in 1 spoon of mayonnaise and one spoon of natural yogurt, grind on black pepper.... easy, incredibly quick and delicious - and people buy this stuff at great expense from the chiller compartment.  Use as sandwich filler, baked potato topper or on its own.  Victim had breadsticks, and says it's yummy.

Pasta and tuna pesto salad

Recipe:  be as busy as humanly possible all day - look in cupboards - panic - boil pasta, open some jars and a tin or two, chop some stuff and mix.  So pasta - shells, because, why not?  Farfalle would be OK, and penne or other shortish types, but probably not long pasta, or sheets.  Jars - roasted peppers, pesto, mayonnaise (lower fat), gherkins, olives: chop - red onion, tomato, cucumber & stuff from jars that needed to be in smaller pieces (gherkin, peppers, olives).  Chuck handful of frozen peas into pasta - bring back to boil.  Open tin of tuna, drain, chuck into mixed vegetables - add big splodge of mayonnaise, add drained pasta and stir all together with a nice fresh grind of black pepper on top. Victim didn't say much, but ate it all.  I enjoyed mine. Some left for lunch tomorrow - result!

British sandwich week

British sandwich week - hmmm - has not been exploited, as yet, to its full potential - ham and mustard, peanut butter and jam, cheese and tomato and tuna salad!  I have made the bread, though, for these sandwichy extravagances - in the machine, much to victim's disgust.

Very excited today though, as we have ordered a wood burning pizza oven - can't wait for that to arrive!

Rosemary and Sophie both still broody, still keep trying to break it - 1 egg yesterday - Nigella I think.