Taste Buds: Penne + Farfalle Tuna Casserole

Well, what do you know, two Taste Buds posts in a row. Been in the kitchen a lot this week. I’m getting inspired with Kam’s desserts so I’m thinking of giving that a shot soon. For now, here’s a quick and easy pasta dish from the ever reliable Epicurious app.

The original recipe was just farfalle but I didn’t have enough so I mixed in some penne. But, as much as possible, Chef’s rule is not to mix the pastas. Here are the ingredients from the app: tuna in oil, dry breadcrumbs, grated parmesan cheese, farfalle, Alfredo sauce, sliced green onions, frozen peas, dried oregano, grated lemon peel and fresh lemon juice.

I had to make some of adjustments because of availability in my pantry. I had tuna in water, dried parmesan cheese, carrots instead of peas, calamansi juice instead of lemons, and milk to dilute the Alfredo sauce. Oh, Chef likes tuna, but I’m not particularly a fan unless its sushi. So, I added some diced frankfurters. And, we have a lot of jalapeno peppers so I chopped some of those too. Food science fact: I’m not afraid of the heat of the jalapeno because dairy neutralizes the spices. So, I wasn’t afraid in putting in all  the seeds.

Basically, I just mixed the breadcrumbs and the parmesan cheese – this will be used as a topping. After boiling the pasta, I mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl. I made a mistake of not separating the tuna before adding it in. It became harder to separate them when they were already mixed in. Once the ingredients are evenly mixed, I poured it in a baking pan, which should have been a casserole, and baked it for 20 minutes in a 400 degree F pre-heated oven. Chef was once again pleasantly surprised. If there is one thing I shouldn’t have compromised, that would be the parmesan cheese. I shouldn’t have used dried parmesan because the topping didn’t end up melting onto the pasta so the breadcrumbs were just a separate layer. I enjoyed the crispy bites though. And the creamy filling was creamy yet not over-filling, which is always good!