Mom’s Tuna Noodle Casserole

My beloved mama, may she live and be well, was never into food, I got that from my father and my mother’s mother. As DH likes to say to her, so are you filling up on 95 or 98? (gasoline/petrol over here) which is fairly accurate. Eat to live not live to eat. So, I cannot say I have a slew of her recipes to share, however, she has one dish that’s famous amongst her kids and specifically her grandkids, her tuna noodle casserole, a wonderful comfort food, quite delish and not very hard to put together.

DH and I are not big pasta people but for some reason, this is one of those dishes I like. It’s also cheesy enough to make you smile 😉 . I pretty much have stuck with the original recipe, only swapping out ketchup for a good bottled tomato sauce (ketchup is simply too sweet for me in the recipe but you can go original) and adding some simple pot cheese/farmer cheese which is basically dry cottage cheese which you crumble, which adds a salty element.

According to my momma, the secret ingredient in this casserole (which I agree with, btw) is her sauteed onions. She uses a ton and it has a wonderful effect upon an otherwise simple recipe, a caramelized taste and altogether a deliciousness that beats out other recipes. Trust me, she’s got a horde of grandchildren and great grandchildren who will testify to this. Just know, this makes a hefty pan of about 15 3/4 inches by almost 12 inches (or 41 x 30 centimeters). So this amount will not fit in a 9 x 13 pan, size up but no worries, it will all be devoured.

So start by sauteeing a bunch of onions (I actually made two of these at the same time, one for me and DH and one for my sonny boy Netanel and my sweet DIL Ayelet who were craving home cooking and hey! this is comfort food, ya know?)

Nice sized onions.

These are medium/large not large, just go with what works for you. Now Mom uses 4 onions per recipe but they tend to be smaller onions than the above so I used 3 onions per recipe and it was just right. No stopping you if you wanna go with 4, just sayin’.

No niceties in sauteeing, this is old fashioned frying them up so be generous with the oil. Take your chopped up onion and coat them in scads of oil (about 4 tablespoons per 3-4 onions chopped) and set them on your back burner to gently fry

check out https://kosherfromjerusalem.com/2019/12/17/basic-sauteed-onions-a-kitchen-staple/ for more instructions. You can fry them darker than I do if you like, just don’t let them burn!!

While this is happening, turn on your oven to 350 F and start to boil your noodles (no pasta here, noodles 🙂 ) according to package directions. Now I like my pasta a little softer than al dente (shhhhhhh) but don’t make them softer in this case since you will continue by baking them for another 25 minutes or so. Drain and rinse briefly.

Pour the noodles into your pan which you first spray with oil spray (helps prevent it sticking when the casserole is ready to be served).

Add a full jar (27 ounces/737 grams, yup the whole thing!) to the noodles and crumble the farmer cheese on top

This is the Israeli version but I wanted you to see, it’s firm, in a block.

You willl stir the whole lot up, patience. Then add the onion, which is actually a darker yellow than the picture shows

and grated cheese, reserving one cup and drained tuna.

Mix the whole lot of deliciousness together. ummmm.

Sprinkle reserved cup of cheese on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbling. You will see why this is Mom’s famous casserole!

Mom’s Tuna Noodle Casserole

3-4 medium large onions, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons (or cover generously the bottom of the pot) neutral oil like canola
1 package (400 grams/14 ounces) macaroni or small shells or a combo
1 27 ounce (737 gram) jar of bottled good tomato/pasta sauce
4 cups lightly packed shredded cheese – any good melting cheese, go with what you like, mozzarella, gouda, cheddar, muenster etc.
3-4 cans of tuna – a note here, can be tuna in oil or water, whatever you prefer, drained
1 package farmer’s cheese

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Start with the onions, since it takes some time to fry them and keep them on the back burner cooking (don’t let them burn!!) while you prepare the noodles according to the package directions.

Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse briefly. Pour the drained noodles into a greased (I oil spray it) large rectangular tin 31 X 40 centimeters or about 15 3/4 x 12, in short an elongated rectangular tin. This casserole is too large to fit in a 9 x 13 pan. Pour the jar of sauce over the noodles (yep, the whole jar) and crumble in the farmer’s cheese, add the drained tuna (chunk it as you go) the onions and 3 cups of the grated cheese and stir it all about. Save one cup of cheese to sprinkle on top.

Put the casserole in the hot oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbling with little brown bits. I know you won’t believe me, but two people can demolish this huge pan all by themselves in a couple of days. Delish.