Tuna and Courgette "Lasagne"

This recipe has been a favourite of Sous Chef J's since being a young toddler.  I think it was originally from a cooking for your baby/child recipe book a pal gave me.  The original recipe used standard wheat based lasagne sheets but, since following a gluten free diet, we have used gluten free pasta and, this time, used a vegetable substitute.  We were lucky enough to be offered a HUGE courgette (zucchini) by someone at B's office and decided it would be perfect for making a lasagne with.

Listed ingredients for the dish are -

1 Tablespoon oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
2 courgettes, trimmed and sliced
125g sweetcorn kernels
1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
250ml water
2 Tablespoons tomato puree
300g tinned tuna (drained and flaked)
cheese sauce - cornflour, butter, milk and cheese (see below)
6 sheets lasagne (we used courgette!)
grated cheese
seasonings

First of all the courgette was trimmed to size to fit the lasagne dish.  the main 'body' was then lightly peeled and carefully sliced to provide 6 'lasagne' sheets.

We tested them for size by putting them in the dish.


Adding the oil to a frying pan, we added the chopped onion and garlic and lightly sauteed it until it became soft.


The remainder of the courgette was chopped into chunks and added to the fried onion together with the sweetcorn.  This was allowed to cook, over a moderate heat, for a few minutes.


Next, the tinned tomatoes, water and tomato puree were added to the pan.  This was brought to the boil then simmered for about 30 minutes.



Whilst the sauce was cooking, we got on with making the cheese sauce.  This is a really simple recipe using -

30g butter
30g cornflour
300ml milk
75g grated cheese (we used cheddar)

The butter was melted in a small pan.  The cornflour was then added and mixed well to make a paste before being stirred over a low heat for about a minute.

Next the milk was gradually added, whilst whisking the mix gently.  Once all the milk had been addded,  the sauce was brought to the boil until it became thick and smooth (make sure you whisk/stir well throughout).



Finally, with the pan removed from the heat, the grated cheese was added and incorporated using the whisk.


Once the tomato sauce had thoroughly cooked, it was taken off the heat and allowed to cool slightly before adding the drained tuna. 

Then began the task of assembling the 'lasagne'... the first third of the tuna mix was put in the base of the dish before being covered with two slices of the courgette. 



A third of the cheese sauce was put on top of the courgettes and the next third of the tuna mix was placed on top.

The layering was repeated again until the final two slices of courgette had been covered with cheese sauce.


We then seasoned the top with freshly ground black pepper and sprinkled over the grated cheese before adding the dish to a pre-heated oven at 180ºC for about 45-55 minutes. We like to wait until the top of the dish is bubbling and the cheese is just beginning to brown in places.  (The cooking time will vary depending on the shape/size of dish used so keep an eye on it!)

Once cooked, the tuna lasagne was served with some peas.  The quantities in this recipe easily feed 4 but you can serve smaller portions and accompany it with green salad if you need to feed 6.

Tuna, Walnut and Grape Salad

As the title suggests, this is a tuna salad with grapes and walnuts.  Added to the 'mix' is some mayonnaise to bind things together but, apart from a generous twist of freshly ground black pepper, it's a simple dish to make.

Ingredients gathered as follows - one 185g tin tuna (drained), a good handful of walnut bits (about 75g), a small bunch of seedless grapes (about 125g) and a large dollop of mayonnaise (we used 3 heaped dessert spoonsful)














The walnuts were roughly chopped and the grapes were halved (this not only makes them go further - a thrifty tip - but also makes Sous Chef J able to eat them more easily)


Having drained the tuna, the mayonnaise was mixed through and then the other ingredients were added and combined. 

Finally, seasoning with some freshly ground pepper and the salad was then ready to eat.  We served it with crisps and a green salad. 

It's a great dish for a packed lunch, goes well at a bbq and you can adjust the amounts/ratios of ingredients according to your taste or availability of ingredients.

Just-in Case

Having experienced many years of not being able to obtain suitable Gluten Free food when out and about with Sous Chef J, we have become used to taking a bag of long life options with us "Just-in Case" and we thought we'd share some of these staple stand bys with you.  Over the last month, with Sous Chef J needing to attend even more hospital and doctors appointments than 'usual' Just-in's been used a fair few times.

The contents are pretty variable, but there's always a pack of Dietary Specials White Ciabatta rolls in there... they're long life and have been a life saver on many occasions meaning Sous Chef J hasn't had to have "yet another" jacket potato.

When this picture was taken, the contents were:-

1 packet Dietary Specials white ciabatta rolls
1 Ella's Organics The Yellow One Smoothie pouch
1 Crispy Rice Bits Bar
2 pouches of John West ready to eat tuna with black pepper

We also add fresh fruit and, if it's a chilly day, soup sachets.  Another thing we always have with us is a Lock'n'Lock container of raw nuts - cashews, pecans, macadamias and pistachios are Sous Chef J's current 'mix' of choice.

Luckily, there is quite a selection of gluten free products available in UK supermarkets these days and Sainsbury's has, according to Sous Chef J's analysis (counting the display shelf units) the largest offering.  However, our constant worry is reliable availability of gluten free eats... and, being a boy who 'likes things the way they were' we try to ensure he has a supply of goodies that he is used to eating.  This is even more important with all the additional stressors resulting from recent events.

Eat Natural Lunchies are a staple too - with clear gluten free labelling (which Sous Chef J likes).  Plus, we aim to stock Just-in with pre-wrapped cakes and biscuit packs, suitable crisps and a few other goodies. These are added to the bag when Sous Chef J's not looking.  Honeybuns, HoneyRose and Dove's Farm do good brownies and biscuits.  Burt's crisps (and all those they make - including Nando's and Reggae Reggae) are Gluten Free so we buy those whenever possible.  A-maizing tortilla chips are spicy and tasty and go well with our home made avocado dip.  Mrs Crimbles have a great range of gluten free goods - Sous Chef J's particular favourites are the mini choc orange macaroons. 

Sous Chef J tells me we haven't included everything we buy (that would be difficult) but, hopefully, gives a few ideas for Gluten Free eating whilst out and about that may be of use.

Feel free to add comments with your favourite Gluten Free emergency supplies... the more the merrier!

Tuna Bake

Today we set about making another longterm family favourite recipe into a Gluten Free version. The original recipe called for condensed chicken soup but that all seems to contain gluten so we made a substitution using mayonnaise and got cooking to see if it would work.

What we were going to use was 2 tins of tuna (drained), one tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 packets of Burt's sea salted crisps, some grated mature cheddar, some frozen peas and sweetcorn (from a can or frozen - works well with either) and some mayonnaise.

 

Having drained the tuna, it was added to a pyrex casserole dish and flaked using a fork.  The peas and sweetcorn were added to the dish and it was mixed through.











Next, we levelled the tuna, mayo, veg mix and added the tin of chopped tomatoes.

Then, it was over to Sous Chef J to break the crisps into little pieces before adding grated cheese to the bags and giving them a shake to incorporate the cheese into the mix.  Finally, the cheesy crisp mix was added to the dish as the topping.

The dish was then placed in a pre-heated (170ºC) fan oven and cooked for 40 minutes until it was bubbling throughout.

It's an easy meal that we all loved... there were no leftovers to bother with!