I found it.
After my first attempt at tuna casserole, I finally found a worthy alternative. I was at the Community Book Store in Park Slope and there on the cookbook shelf was Andrew Carmellini’s Urban Italian, a pretty dazzling book of recipes from the former chef of A Voce. I took the book to the grimy couch and sat down next to a cat, a dog and an iguana (this store has pets) and began flipping through it and there it was: “Ziti with Tuna, Red Onions and Cannelini Beans.” Was it a casserole proper? Absolutely not. But it had many of the components of a tuna casserole–noodles, tuna, onions–and assembled them in a way that made much more sense to me. I quickly took out a pen and my secret little pad and copied down the recipe, hoping the iguana wouldn’t rat me out to the store owners. On my walk home I picked up the ingredients and cracked my knuckles, ready for Italy to conquer America in the battle of noodles and tuna.
Here’s what you need:
Olive oil, 1 lb penne or ziti, 1 red onion sliced thin, red pepper flakes, 1/4 cup white wine (I used Vermouth which I keep in the fridge), 1 15-oz can cannellini beans, 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups tuna in oil (Sicilian or Spanish), 1/2 cup Kalamata olives (I forgot to buy these), the juice and zest of 3 lemons, 2 Tbs chopped parsley, 1/4 cup chopped basil (I left this out), 2 Tbs capers, and 1 tsp of oregano.
As you can tell by the ingredients, this is miles away from Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup.
And it’s pretty easy to prepare–it’s actually a one-pot meal. Here’s what you do:
1. Get lots of water boiling in a big pot, add salt, and then boil your penne until just al dente (definitely undercook it here, don’t overcook. You know by tasting.) Drain it but don’t rinse it. Add a splash of olive oil and mix the pasta around a bit with your hands so it doesn’t stick. Set it aside.
2. Now that same pot you cooked the pasta in? Dry it out. Put it back on the heat and when it’s hot add 2 Tbs. olive oil and the red onion, sliced thin. Cook ’til soft.
3. Add salt, red pepper flakes (to taste–I use about 1/2 tsp), and 1/4 cup white wine. Reduce 2 minutes until onions are shiny.
4. Add 1 15-oz can cannellini beans (I drained them a bit), cook 1 to 2 minutes (add some salt here too). Then add the pasta, stir around until the pasta is warmed up and then remove from the heat.
5. Here’s where you add the good stuff—and you add it off the heat so it’s more of a pasta salad than a casserole proper. You add the cherry tomatoes, the tuna, the olives (if you use them), the juice and zest of 3 lemons (this makes it zingy), the 2 Tbs chopped parsley, 1/4 cup chopped basil, the 2 Tbs capers and the 1 tsp oregano. Here it is all in a bowl:
How could adding this to ANYTHING make it taste bad?
You also add more salt here, a splash of olive oil (1/4 cup) and, if you want, toasted bread crumbs.
So stir it all together–the pasta and the stuff–and that, my friends, yields the best tuna + noodle dish of your life. You don’t need to bake it in the oven, getting the tuna all hot and mealy. You don’t need to sprinkle potato chips on top–that’s what the bread crumbs are for, if you use them.
But it tastes fresh, it tastes bright, and it actually tastes like it’s good for you (unless you’re Jeremy Piven.) Wouldn’t you want a bowl of this instead of that classic American gunk?
America may have given us jazz, Steven Speilberg and Disneyland, but when it comes to tuna and noodles, Italy knows what it’s doing. American Tuna Noodle Casserole? You’ve been conquered.
Love that the first ad on this is for french’s onions for a regular tuna casserole! Google seems to have a sense of humor/irony . . .
Poor, poor Jeremy Piven and his mercury poisoning.
This looks very good pasta dish, open to all sorts of interpretation and substitutions. I am a fan of creamy tuna-noodle casserole, but I’ve never used cream of mushroom soup to make it!
Something about tuna and onions is magical. Together, they also make one heck of a pizza topping. I’m just sayin’.
Please please PLEASE make this recipe before you give Italy the crown:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tuna-Noodle-Casserole-109434
I love Italy as much as the next guy, and agree wholeheartedly that they have a delightful way with a bit of tuna…but I hope you’ll give the USA one more chance…even though, really, I suppose the French deserve the credit (because of the white sauce).
I made it the old way for years but this method goes back to the basics of the original recipe and changes it for the better. Enjoy!
This looks SO good but i feel like it would satisfy a craving for pasta salad but not for casserole. That craving for creamy, hot, crusty noodles would have to go a whole other direction. I feel you on the hot canned tuna being kind of gross, but i wonder if salmon would work better in the original traditional casserole, since it pairs well with creamy sauces and we’re used to eating it hot. just a thought.
now i must go make this…
Looks delicious, but it ain’t a casserole. It’s probably the better for its lack of casseroleness though.
Of course…cannelii bean–that’s what would have made the difference in my recipe. Looks perfect and delicious, thanks.
That’s my kind of Tuna-Noodle dish. I also despise the American version, as much as others love it.
P.S. Please don’t crack your knuckles anymore. Drives me nuts. ;-)
Great sounding recipe, an Italian staple in many variations, but do you have to call it “Gourmet”? It made me not want to read it, but of course I did and will have it at dinner tomorrow, but please – no more “gourmet”? Pretty please? You’re too talented.
this sounds lovely- sorta like pasta putanesca really- I found it is also good chilled a bit. Very versatile recipe-you can leave some items out or add others that suit your taste. I put in asparagus (cause I love them)- I want to try it with avocado next time instead of asparagus. thanks so much for sharing
Dude, this is what the library is for. Request the cookbook online, they’ll send it to your local branch, and then you can take it home with you. No need for the covert ops with the pen and paper!
looks cool…The picture looks so inviting.. right away I’m gonna get the ingredients from http://www.myethnicworld.com and try it.
What, no ajax? Lol… looks good!
This is my white-trash version of tuna casserole.
2 c cooked elbow macaroni
6 oz melted Velveeta
1 onion chopped and sauteed in 1/3 cup butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 tsp of celery salt
1 can of albacore tuna, drained
Combine all and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or microwave 6 min.
(If you so desire, and you know you will, sprinkle with crushed potato chips for the last five minutes of baking.)
That looks so bright and gorgeous!
No cream of mushroom soup? Just kidding. This looks delicious, although I must admit I’m a fan of the non-gourmet version as well. It’s total comfort food!
I just saw his book at a thrift shop as well! Now I’m going to go back for it. I’ve been on a tuna kick recently – I packed a lunch of tuna, capers, arugula, chickpeas and cilantro vinaigrette for work the other day. Thanks for this post, it reminded me of how much I also love tuna with pasta.
Ya know, I always mix tuna and vegetables along with my rice and I sometimes eat that as a meal just by itself. My friends always give me grief about it, but I’m going to show them this and let them know tuna + vegetables + starches = awesome!
I made this last week, and unfortunately I used tuna that didn’t taste great, BUT otherwise it was a tasty combination. I used grape tomatoes and added some shallots and scallions for a little extra profile.. I’ll be making this again this week, but using chicken (leftover from roasting) in place of the tuna..
My husband just about died when I used cream of mushroom soup in a less appealing recipe before we were married. I told him the secret ingredient just after he seemed to enjoy it! Thanks, now I can redeem myself.