| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1 pound hollow cavatappi or elbows with lines, or macaroni with lines
- About 3 tablespoons EVOO, plus extra for drizzling
- 12 ounces line-caught canned tuna, drained
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, such as dill, parsley and tarragon
- 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion or scallions, whites and greens
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 to 2 small ribs celery, finely chopped
- 1 lemon, juiced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 stick butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- About 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups grated white Cheddar or gruyere cheese
- 1 1/2 cups homemade breadcrumbs or panko
- 1/2 cup grated Parm
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Salt the water and cook the pasta to less than al dente, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and drizzle with a touch of oil to keep the pasta loose.
- In a large bowl, flake the tuna and add the herbs (reserving a tablespoon or 2 for breadcrumbs), onions, mustard, celery, lemon juice, EVOO and some salt and pepper. Add the pasta and combine well. Transfer to a baking dish or large casserole dish.
- In a medium saucepot, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in the flour and cook 1 minute. Then whisk in the milk and season with salt and pepper, thicken to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the Cheddar in a figure-eight motion. Pour the sauce evenly over the pasta and tuna. Gently combine with a spoon to settle the sauce. Cool and store for a make-ahead meal.
- Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a small pan and add the breadcrumbs and reserved herbs, toss to evenly distribute the butter, remove from heat and transfer to airtight container.
- To prepare, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and bring the casserole to room temperature. Top the casserole with breadcrumbs and Parm cheese. Bake until golden and hot through.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 903 |
| Total Fat | 44 g |
| Saturated Fat | 22 g |
| Carbohydrates | 88 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 10 g |
| Protein | 40 g |
| Cholesterol | 116 mg |
| Sodium | 875 mg |
Reviews
Yummo!
I can make tuna mac. It is a combination of cheesy mac and a tuna salad.
Like others said, this was just horribly dry. Didn’t anyone TEST this??? Basic idea and ingredients are fine, but the proportions are WAAAAY off. Use about 50% more cheese, a bit more milk, and half the pasta. Alton Brown’s excellent Mac&Cheese calls for, among other things:
* 1/2 pound elbow macaroni (not 1 pound)
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 3 cups milk
* 1 large egg
* 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded (not 2 cups, which is about 8 ounces)
Compare those proportions to this recipe, and definitely need to adjust to get closer to these.
* 1/2 pound elbow macaroni (not 1 pound)
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 3 cups milk
* 1 large egg
* 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded (not 2 cups, which is about 8 ounces)
Compare those proportions to this recipe, and definitely need to adjust to get closer to these.
My favorite comfort food!!
I doubled the recipe because, well, when cooking for 3 you should cook for 10. I did not have fresh herbs so I winged it. I too thought there should be more cheese and tuna when I read the recipe, so I added a couple extra cups of cheddar to it, plus used 30 ounces of tuna for the doubled recipe. I think it needed just a touch of cayenne for my personal taste preferences. Pretty tasty though. Next time I think I will back down on how much lemon I use, plus add a little cayenne.
Not that great. My husband did not like it and refused to eat it. As others said it was too dry and the flavor I was expecting just wasn’t there. There should have been more cheese sauce for the amount of pasta there. I was really dissappointed and will not make this one again.
Loved it! This will become a part of our rotating recipes so that we do it occasionally. I made it basically as per the recipe, simply omitting any salt. For the herbs, I used mostly fresh parsley and some dried dill, even though I know fresh dill would’ve been better. We just didn’t want to invest in both fresh herbs. I liked the dill flavor running through it, and I loved the dijon taste. Going to look up more of Rachael’s mac and cheese/sandwich recipes. Already love the rueben mac and cheese!
Dry, dry, dry. I would suggest doubling up on the cheese sauce. I didn’t care for the strong flavors from the herbs. It just didn’t work for me. The sauce tasted good by itself, but was lost in the mix of the final product. It didn’t taste cheesy at all. The topping did turn out nice and crunchy so that part works. I’m going back to my standard tuna casserole.
Too dry, not much flavor
My 5 year old loved it! I can never get her to eat tuna so I didn’t tell her it was in there and she never knew. I made a few changes to the recipe to make it a bit more healthy. I used whole wheat pasta, whole wheat seasoned bread crumbs, 2% milk and reduced fat cheese. Instead of coating the bread crumbs in butter I used olive oil. Also, I did not have the herbs on hand so I left them out. Next time I will try the recipe with the herbs but it was very good without them!