I grew up eating nasty tuna casserole made from cream-of-something soup. It was bland, boring, high in MSG, and always left me feeling bloated. I’ve been looking for a made-from-scratch creamy cheesy comfort-food version of that recipe, couldn’t find one, so made this one up from a Better Homes & Gardens white fish enchilada recipe I used to make years ago, and made it vegetarian by swapping in mushrooms for the tuna. I don’t mind saying it’s amazing and is a family favourite, hopefully for generations to come.
For the non vegetarian/vegan people making this, throw in a couple cans of tuna packed in water right before adding it to the casserole dish or a couple cubed cooked chicken breasts.
Makes 12 servings.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium organic red onion, finely chopped
- 24 sliced mushrooms
- 540 ml canned lentils, drained & rinsed
- 2 cloves organic garlic, minced
- 2 stalks organic celery, diced
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander (or 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 8-ounce carton cottage cheese (or sour cream)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable stock powder (dissolved in 1.5 cups boiling water)
- 1 4-ounce can diced green chili peppers (or 6 slices of pickled jalapeño, diced)
- 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack jalapeño cheese
- 1 package Barilla gluten-free pasta (macaroni or rotini)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Prepare pasta. Drain, set aside.
- In a large pot saute red onion, mushrooms, garlic, celery, coriander, red pepper flakes, and black pepper in oil until onion and celery is tender. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl mix cornstarch into blended cottage cheese or sour cream until smooth. Add hot vegetable broth; whisk carefully until combined and smooth.
- Add creamy mixture & green chilies to onion mixture in pot.
- Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly.
- Remove from heat. Add can of drained rinsed lentils. Add half the cheese; stir until melted.
- Gently fold cooked pasta into the sauce.
- Pour mixture into two 8×8 casserole dishes. Split the remaining cheese and sprinkle on both casseroles.
- Bake, uncovered for 30 minutes until heated through.
- Broil on high for 2-3 minutes till nicely browned on top.
- Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Optional substitutes to make recipe dairy-free (M-Safe/B-Safe):
*Replace sour cream or cottage cheese with a 255 g container of vegan cream cheese blended with 1 cup of barista oat milk.
*Replace monterey jack cheese with 2 cups of Daiya mozzarella style cheese
Plum Hill 