Tuna Casserole Over the Top

I did not grow up in a family where casseroles were served for family dinners.  My mother was a cook in a restaurant, and a casserole was something she just did not make.  So, after I married, I followed that tradition almost exclusively.  I do recall once in a while, that I would make the typical Tuna Casserole with noodles, tuna, canned peas and the dreaded Cream of Mushroom Soup.  I suppose I topped it with crushed potato chips.  You have to think 1970's here.  I really don't remember if our daughters would eat it or not.  I am guessing no, because they never did get into enjoying eating fish like we do.  I just did not make it that often.  In other words, it just did not appeal to anyone that much. 

So, when this week I saw my friend, Eileen who writes the blog Living Tastefully-Passions to Pastry, had a tuna casserole recipe that she found from another blog, it just sounded delicious.  Eileen grew up in the small villages where I did in the Amana Colonies in Iowa.  I did not know her as well as her older sister (Eileen is a lot younger than me), but I find her blog and her expertise in the kitchen amazing.  In fact, when Eileen said she made this tuna casserole twice in one week, I knew I had to try it.

In fact, I have been reading a lot on blogs recently about getting rid of the old Cream of Mushroom Soup and making your own mushroom sauce.  Yes, it was a little putzing in the kitchen to get this all together, but I find it was so worth it.  If the Trout had been home earlier, he could have done all the chopping for me which always helps tremendously.

I have to say, even though I changed a few things because of what I had on hand, this casserole tasted perfect.

I will definitely keep this recipe handy and would even serve this to company.  It was that good!!!

So, coming from someone who does not make casseroles, I would say this is quite an endorsement.

The recipe follows.

Grown-Up Tuna Noodle Casserole

Serve 8

Butter to grease 2 1/2 to 3 quart casserole (I used a 9 x 13 pan)
12 ounces pasta (whatever you like) ( I used penne which I had on hand)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms
1/3 cup minced shallots
4 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons flour
3 1/2 cups whole milk (I used 1% plus heavy cream to get the right amount)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons capers, drained
2-5 ounce cans chunk light tuna, drained (I used two 7 ounce cans from Costco)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup thinly sliced kale or spinach (I used spinach)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme (I used 2 heavy teaspoons of thyme out of my garden)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
I heavy grind of fresh pepper corns
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped Italian parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Butter the casserole dish and set aside.

Cook the pasta until al dente in a large pot of boiling water.  Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and shallots and cook for about 5 minutes or until shallots are translucent and mushrooms are beginning to soften.  Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.  Slowly pour in the wine, lower the heat and cook until the liquid is reduced by half.

Add the flour to the pan and stir well to ensure all the mushrooms are coated.  Increase the heat to high and slowly pour in the milk, bringing the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the milk begins to thicken and starts to look more like a sauce.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked pasta, Parmesan cheese, capers, tuna, sour cream, kale or spinach, thyme, salt and pepper.  Pour the creamy mushroom sauce into the bowl and stir to coat all ingredients.  Transfer to prepared casserole and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Sprinkle in the breadcrumbs and cook until fragrant and slightly toasty.  Sprinkle the crispy breadcrumbs over the top of the casserole and bake for 20 minutes or until the top is lightly brown.  Remove from oven and sprinkle chopped parsley on top.  Serve.  Cover and refrigerate the leftovers for up to 3 days.  The casserole also freezes beautifully. 

My favorite German cookie....Wiesbader Brot

A long, long time ago, a recipe came from Germany with a group of people looking for religious freedom.  They traveled across the ocean and, according to a diary that I found many years ago in my parent's attic, they suffered from a lot of sea sickness.  But they had faith in their Creator, and they arrived on the shores of America.  The time frame was the 1850's.  So what did the women bring with them?  I can only guess, but recipes were an important factor..keeping them in touch with their homeland.

One such recipe I baked today.  A Christmas cookie that I have always known as "Wiesbader Brot.".  This translates to "the bread of Wiesbaden, Germany."  As a child, I loved to watch my grandmother bake these great smelling cookies.  If this cookie has ever seen itself in Wiesbaden, Germany, is a mystery.  Perhaps, it was only remorse of leaving the homeland that named this cookie.  Nevertheless, with a little imagination, it does look like a slice of bread topped with butter.

It has been a few years since I have baked Wiesbader Brot, but I do think today, they tasted better than they ever have.  I have to give credit to the cinnamon that I added.  For quite a few years, I have been buying my cinnamon from Penzey's in Wisconsin.  This Vietnamese cinnamon is absolutely the best tasting.  I hope you will discover Penzey's and try their cinnamon and other spices.  They rank top quality on my list.  I also buy all my peppercorns for grinding from them including a lot of other spices.

The cookie is supposed to look like a slice of bread topped with butter.  When you read the recipe, you can see how this happens.  The recipe is printed in "Seasons of Plenty", a cookbook from the Amana Colonies in Iowa, that I gave away earlier this year on my blog anniversary.   The tool that should be used to cut the cookies is a ruffled roller cutter that I do not own.  My grandmother's disappeared in the family home auction years ago, but I do remember it and use my pizza cutter instead.  The ruffled edge on the cookies does make it extra special.

Wiesbader Brot (The Bread of Wiesbaden)

1 cup butter, softened
2 1/3 cups sugar
4 eggs, reserve yolks from 2
5 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder

 In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Reserving 2 egg yolks, beat 2 whole eggs and 2 white until very frothy and combine with creamed sugar and butter.  Gradually add flour, cinnamon, and baking powder.  Mix well.  Cover and chill dough overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  On a large lightly floured board, roll out small portions of the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  Use a fluted pastry wheel, or pizza cutter and cut into diamond shapes.  Place on a greased baking sheet and brush with beaten egg yolks.  Bake about 15 minutes until light brown.  Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.

I hope you have a chance to try my favorite German cookie.  They are now resting until the grandchildren arrive Christmas week.  By the way, my favorite way to eat them is dunked in hot chocolate.  YUM

It will always be home

When I remember back to my childhood, growing up in the Amana Colonies in Iowa, many pleasant thoughts come to mind.  It was beautiful place, where children could grow in safety and with a faith that would last a lifetime.  Everything was centered around family and church.  Usually three generations, sometimes four,  lived under one roof, and those roofs were covering very large homes.  

The photo below, to me, is how I remember home.  The bricks houses, the grape trellis covered with leaves and grapes in abundance.  The windows; quite often 9 panes of glass above and 9 panes below.  

My family home, built in 1872, with the same family owning it until we needed to sell it in 2001, after my mother passed away. 

Our home had 9 panes of glass above and 6 below.  I am not remembering the significance right now why some had 9 below and some had 6 panes of glass.  You could sometimes see the little bubbles left in the glass during it's making.  

Some of the homes were wooden and some were made of sandstone.  No matter, these were homes where our parents and their parents grew up and then where we children were also raised.

And in the end, we are all put to rest in the same way.  There are no family plots.  You are buried in the order in which you died.  The tombstones are simple; made of concrete with your name, date of death and the length of your days on earth.  In years past, the tombstones only recorded the year of birth and the year of death.

I have taken you on a very short tour of my Amana.  No matter where I have lived or what I have experienced, it all comes back to my childhood, growing up in Amana.