I don’t often get invited round to friends’ houses for dinner, except by the lovely Battenberg Belle. I tell myself it’s not because people don’t like me, but more that they think because I have a food blog, I am a really good cook. I’m not you know. And I will eat ANYTHING when I go to someone’s house. I don’t care what it is. Absolutely anything. Just putting it out there…
Because I’m like Joan Crawford on a bad day at the moment…
…completely driven by my need to get all the recipes for the Columbo cookbook tested and written up, I rarely cook anything that’s not on the schedule. It looks like this at the moment… Mostly Columbo co-stars with a few randoms thrown in…
Occasionally though, I go a bit off piste. Usually in the direction of Ottolenghi, sometimes Joan Ransley, and occasionally Alastair Henry. All of which to say, I am a big fan of recipes other people have written, whether they are a movie star, or a food writing star. I very, very, rarely make something up myself.
But drum roll and trumpets. I was very brave the other day and did just that. So I am putting this in here as something I am stupidly proud of. It’s no great invention. Tuna, sweetcorn, tomato sauce and pasta are a classic combination. But it had a film star twist because I used some Hector Elizondo Pomodoro Sauce from the freezer. It was REALLY GOOD!
I am mildy obsessed with this (fairly) new tuna “Infusions” product and keep my eye out for when Morrisons has them on special offer (regularly). I used 2.5 tins of this one:
So here’s the recipe:
200g tuna
45 g sweetcorn
280g Hector Elizondo’s Pomodoro Sauce – click on link for the recipe
18 x Conchiglioni Rigati (I find these big shells strangely pleasing)
Grated cheddar to sprinkle on top
French’s French Fried Onions (another gift from Caroline from Texas but you can get them in the UK in big supermarkets) to sprinkle on top
Parsley to make it look festive
I cooked the pasta for 5 minutes and drained it well. I put the pasta sauce in the bottom of a lasagna dish, stuffed the shells with the tuna and sweetcorn mixed together, and nestled them in. I grated some cheddar over the top and sprinkled over some crispy onions. When it came out of the oven I sprinkled over some parsley.
OK, now I realise that I didn’t write down how long I put it in the oven for. The top recipe that comes up when googling tuna pasta bake is this one. Wait a minute, they have PINCHED MY RECIPE. From my brain. Before I even wrote it up – ha ha. Sainsbury’s with the Huffington Post (what?) baked theirs for 30 minutes at 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. They didn’t put the crispy onions on theirs though…
This made 2 portions, I scoffed one feeling very pleased with myself, and had the other one for lunch at work the next day.
Now I want this again, right now. NO. Must stick to the testing schedule!
