When my sons were growing up, on Fridays during Lent we either had fried fish sandwiches from a popular locally-owned place, Seafood Express, or I made tuna noodle casserole.
My husband loves tuna noodle casserole, but I recently found out (many years later) that my sons dreaded tuna noodle casserole night. They really enjoyed going with their dad to pick up the fish, joining a long line of our friends and neighbors to get the best fish sandwich in town.
I never knew that they didn't like tuna noodle casserole, they kept that information to themselves and ate it without complaint.
Now that they have their own households, they never have to have tuna noodle casserole again, but my husband still enjoys it. I recently saw actress/Food Network host Valerie Bertinelli (from the original TV series One Day At A Time) on The Chew, and she made a tuna noodle casserole that looked much better than my old recipe so I thought I'd give it a try.
My husband was skeptical at first (he doesn't like to mess with a good thing), but when I explained that this recipe doesn't have peas in it (he hates them, I love them), he was willing to try it.
It turned out fabulous and now it is a frequently requested menu item on Fridays during Lent. I like the mushrooms in the recipe, and Bertinelli uses medium shells instead of egg noodles which I enjoyed too. She also uses crushed potato chips as a topping (I chose the salt and vinegar variety), and that turned great as well.
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| Photo from The Chew |
There's no can of soup in the recipe (she uses whole milk and chicken broth), so it has a fresher taste to it as well. If you like Tuna Noodle Casserole, give this recipe a try. I highly recommend it.
You can get the recipe here and watch Bertinelli make the recipe as well by clicking here.
