Is it possible to cook with canned tuna?

Oh, and then there's always tuna noodle casserole, which is totally num.

we break up a can and mix with cannellini or flageolet beans, red onion, garlic and parsley which is dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar and loads of pepper. Gorgeous.

Oh no, I was going to suggest tuna noodle casserole (one of my favorite comfort foods). But that's made up of canned tuna, egg noodles, onions, frozen peas and cream of mushroom soup. It's not icky, I swear...

This month's Everyday Food suggests tuna salad served in a avacado halve...

tons of variations of it are in the seminal student cookery book - Grub on a grant.

Tuna, the Food of My Soul

Soft as the voice of my mother
Calling as night shadows fell
Calling her children to supper
Oh what a heavenly smell!
There on the dining room table
Served from a steaming glass bowl
Eaten with Jell-o and Kool-Aid
Tuna the food of my soul

Tuna casserole, O how dear to my lips
Noodles and tuna and mushrooms and chips (chorus)

Only a small can of tuna
Mushroom soup, celery and peas
Mixed with a quart of egg noodles
Sprinkled with chips and with cheese

When my earthly journey is over
Gladly I'll take to the air
Afterwards in the church basement
They'll serve tuna casserole there.

Tuna casserole, O how dear to my lips
Noodles and tuna and mushrooms and chips

cook pasta (it's helpful to have a potato in with the water to make the seafood mix stick to the pasta). Whilst it's cooking heat a SHEDLOAD of olive oil. I cannot emphasise this enough. WAY WAY MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU'LL NEED. The bottom of the pan should be covered to a depth of a couple of mil. Slice two or three cloves of garlic and a dice a couple of red chillis (don't faff about de-seeding them, bear in mind that you're prob. drunk and will rub your eyes by accident, or, god forbid, scratch your balls), throw them into the oil, low heat for a couple of minutes to let the flavours infuse. If you've got them in, anchovies are a good addition at this stage

PLenty o' salt and pepper, obv.

Now the vague bit, prep whatever veg. you have lying around that you want to go in, frozen peas handy here, and there's generally peppers and cherry toms lying around my fridge (my housemate is a compulsive shopper who very rarely eats all that he's bought). Broccoli's good too, though take care to pull the florets apart so they're quite small. Bung it in and cook it, if you need any more liquid (and the whole point of this is that it's a sloppy, tasty, mess) lemon juice, balsamic maybe, spott of white wine or sherry, whatever's lying around, really. If you have it you may want to bung in some smoked paprika at this juncture, or maybe a spot of oregano. Who cares? You're drunk!

Oh go on, add a fuckload more oil, you might as well. You're drunk, after all. The essential thing being that when the pasta's cooked there's enough liquor to coat it. When the veg is but a moment off being cooked throw in said tinned fish, or frozen prawns or whatever and warm tnrough. Stir in pasta. Season. Scarf with the rough-arse red that a friend bought you that you wouldn't touch sober. Enjoy!

Grilled tuna sandwich. Canned tuna (drained), Miracle Whip, onions, finely chopped dill pickles and a dash of hot mustard. Or go the lazy way and mix the drained tuna with your favorite pre-mixed jar of tartar sauce. Slap between bread wtih a slice of melty cheese .. butter outside of bread and grill / fry as you would any other grilled sandwich.

Or ... make your favorite macaroni and cheese receipe and add a can of drained tuna.

Both ways are tasty, cheap and easy!

But how can it be bad? Flake up a can of tuna chunks in oil. Finely chop some sundried tomatoes. Cook a pot of pasta - short pasta works best but spaghetti is good too. When the pasta is almost done, fry some finely chopped garlic in oil, then toss in the tuna and sundried tomato and stir it around till its all warmed thru. Add some lemon juice.

Toss thru the drained pasta. GLORIOUS.

Also, tuna mornay OMG, comfort food or what. I make a white (bechamel) sauce (is that what you merkins call milk gravy? or is that somehting else, cuz "milk gravy" sounds really gross. Anyhoo...), and the white sauce is the base - I add whatever I have to hand, cooked onion, the tuna of course, some cooked mushrooms, corn kernels, maybe a chopped boiled egg. Turn the mix into a caserrole, add breadcrumbs n cheese and bake it til thats all crispy. Yummo.

If you are anywhere near a Trader Joe's, their tuna in olive oil is good (and well-priced) and their sundried roma tomatoes in olive oil are the very best. RJM was putting groceries away earlier this week and counted 8 jars of these beauties. I buy some every time we are in Seattle.

canned tuna is all over nyc menus in nicoise salads

i just ... really don't understand

tuna steak, people

can u eve?

canned tuna is all over nyc menus in nicoise salads

It is in Nice, too.

yeah - and i wouldn't like it there either

canned tuna is meant for the home. that's about it.

this thread cracks me up

"Is it possible to cook with (common ingredient that many people cook with)?"

i'm ready to fight about canned tuna

"Is it possible to cook with toast?"

I cook with tomato paste -- why am I so bad and hated?

i made a delicious tuna salad the other night. it involved mayo, yogurt, chopped green apples and cilantro. and a dash of curry powder.

I had friends who made a tuna marinara sauce for pasta when I lived in Milan.

canned tuna is meant for the home.

FYI, canned tuna is common all over the Mediterranean. Italian or Spanish tuna canned in olive oil with a little lemon and mustard over toast with arugula and tomatoes is ace.

canned tuna is meant for the home. that's about it.

― j lol (surm), Thursday, July 14, 2011 11:39 AM (1 hour ago)

RONG

salsa di tonno

6oz of tinned tunny fish in oil, 1 cupful of meat or chicken stock, oliver oil or butter, parsley, pepper.

heat the oil or butter. add the tunny broken up into some small pieces, and some chopped parsley. let it cook gently. after 5 minutes add the hot stock, season with ground black pepper, and cook for another 5 minutes.

to serve with spaghetti or risotto.

italian food by elizabeth david, 1954.

You know, my ex used to make something like that frequently and it FREQUENTLY grossed the hell outta me. I'm going to stick with my tuna straight out of the can, and not cooked any further. I like that mustard/lemon/tomato and toast arrangement, though.

Canned haters should check this place out imho:

http://www.espinaler.es/index.aspx?lan=en

europeans have some high quality canned goods

the 'no reservations' spain episode features many beautiful looking & expensive canned fishes -- seemed like a pretty common if not high class tapas thing there

i would never order canned tuna at a restaurant tho bcuz it's one thing that i keep at home to make whenever i run out of food am feeling super lazy

yeah spanish are mad for fancy canned food. i have marvelled in supermercados.

in britain you can get some fancier canned food in some places. in a normal shop a tin of sardines is 40p or whatever, you can get ones in waitrose that are over £2 and they are so much better quality.

supposed to be a slash in there

when i was in school i'd make tuna quesadillas quite frequently, pretty much a tuna melt w/ a tortilla for bread -- did this when i had no bread left

http://www.brindisa.com/assets/458x261/Ortiz-bonito1900g-detail_1002_1.jpg

The key is to get the good quality stuff that is in big chunks, not a slusge of finely flaked tuna in crappy brine (which I suspect is what a lot of cheap US tuna might be like?).

Here you can also buy tuna in cans like you would sardines - big slices, like you might get off a tuna steak almost. I've had tuna steak too and tbh I cant much tell the diff, unless the tuna is raw, and blech (not a fan of tuna sashimi).

in general american canned tuna is way nicer than australian canned tuna.

Fair nuff! I only buy the imported italian stuff anyway :)

(nothing more depressing than opening a can of Savings tuna and finding a puddle of brine and only half a can of actual meat)