The Australian school-night classic.
Why you should cook this
The Australian school-night classic that nobody quite wants to admit is the most-cooked dish in the country. Pasta, two tins of tuna in oil (drained hard), a proper bechamel sauce with cheese, frozen peas, breadcrumbs on top, into the oven. Fifteen minutes work, twenty in the oven, dinner for four for under twelve dollars. The Tuesday-night dish your mum cooked and that you, in a moment of cosmic surrender, are now cooking too.
Drain the tuna properly. Press it dry with paper towel before it goes in. Wet tuna is the difference between a creamy mornay and a watery sad puddle. Cook the pasta one minute under the packet directions because it finishes cooking in the oven. The bechamel wants to be thicker than feels right because the pasta absorbs liquid as it bakes. Use Sirena tuna in oil, never the cheap supermarket water-pack stuff. Sharp cheddar in the sauce, parmesan over the top with the breadcrumbs. Bake at 200 fan, golden top, bubbling edges, eat from the dish on a Tuesday with a sharp cold riesling and zero shame.
What to drink with it
A cold dry riesling, a Vodka Collins (our recipe), or a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Notes from the kitchen
Drain the tuna properly. Watery tuna makes watery mornay. Press it dry with paper towel. Cook the pasta one minute under. It’ll finish cooking in the oven.
The recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C fan. Boil pasta 1 minute less than packet directs. Drain.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium. Whisk in flour. Cook 1 minute.
- Slowly whisk in milk. Cook 5 minutes until thick. Off heat, stir in 100g tasty cheese, parmesan, mustard and nutmeg.
- Combine pasta, sauce, drained tuna, frozen peas in a baking dish. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Top with remaining 50g cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake 20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
- Top with parsley before serving.
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Watery mornay
You didn’t drain the tuna properly. Press the tuna dry with paper towel before adding.
Gluey pasta
Cooked the pasta to time on the packet. Cook one minute less; it finishes cooking in the oven.
Variations worth knowing
Salmon mornay
Replace tuna with two tins of red salmon. Richer, more luxurious.
Smoked fish
Replace tuna with 400g cooked smoked haddock or trout, flaked. Family-recipe-from-Glasgow energy.
Cauliflower add-on
Stir in 2 cups of par-boiled cauliflower florets. Softens the carb hit, adds vegetable.
Leftovers and make ahead
Two days fridge. Reheat at 180 degrees covered for 20 minutes. Add a splash of milk before reheating to loosen the sauce.