Baked Tuna Macaroni

In observation of Lent, which started last (Ash) Wednesday, we’ve been strictly observing meatless Fridays.  That will go on for the next 5 weeks or so.

Last Friday, I made Baked Tuna Macaroni. It’s been a while since I made baked pasta.  I’ve been wanting to make baked pasta for several weeks now but laziness often gets the better of me, so much so that as soon as the pasta and sauce are cooked, I just stop dead on my tracks and call out to  hubby and my daughter that lunch/dinner is ready.

Pasta dishes, because of the sheer ease of making them, make a regular appearance on our dinner table.  I thought last Friday, was a good time to finally do a baked pasta dish if only to give it a little twist and disguise the fact that yes, we’re having pasta yet again.

And because it was Friday, I opted to use canned tuna in water instead of ground turkey, which is my favorite meat to use for pasta sauces.  I cooked the sauce as I do normally, that is, sauteing garlic and onions in a pan, adding the meat (tuna, in this case) and pouring the bottled/canned sauce and seasoning it with salt and pepper. Come to think of it, I forgot to add mushrooms!  Oh well.  After draining the cooked pasta, I poured the sauce on it and mixed thoroughly, then transfered it to a baking dish and topped it with a generous amount of shredded cheese.  The only available cheese I had in the fridge was a bag of shredded cheddar cheese, so that’s what I used.   I popped the baking dish  in a 350F oven and baked it for 20-30 minutes.

As expected, my daughter loved it.  I think I could have used more sauce on the macaroni, but I was too afraid to end up with a soupy baked macaroni.  Anyway, nobody complained.  And in the end, that’s all that matters.