Chrissy Teigen's Cheesy Jalapeño Tuna Noodle Casserole

So, I'm the kinda girl who goes to the library and comes home with a stack of cookbooks so high they'd be dangerous if they fell on somebody. When I can carve out some time, I'll grab a pad of sticky tabs and start paging through. Every once in a while, I come across a book that I must (MUST!) have in my personal collection pronto. Chrissy Teigen's cookbook, Cravings, was one of those books.

I'm not going to go into depth about the book...yet—but that's because I want to do a dedicated review post on it (in fact, I'm so enamored of it that I'm contemplating a Julie and Julia-style cook-through). But I did think that this month's Fish Friday Foodies theme, fish in a dish, was the perfect opportunity to try one of the recipe I had bookmarked in it.

I consider tuna noodle casserole to be classic Americana comfort food (why yes, I did grow up in the Midwest), but Chrissy's version is kicked up a notch by the addition of jalapeños in the casserole itself, and crunchy jalapeño potatoes chips baked with the cheese on top. She unapologetically calls for "cans, cans, cans" (because that's the way she likes it).

Now, I have no problem with using canned condensed cream of mushroom soup to make this (and lots of other retro recipes), mostly because I use Campbell's Healthy Choice variety, and it doesn't contain MSG. But you could definitely use the equivalent of a homemade condensed cream of mushroom soup if you'd rather (try this version from Simply Scratch, this version from The Pioneer Woman, or this version from Gimme Some Oven).

Whichever way to choose to make it (and you should definitely choose to make it) is worth it.

Fish Friday Foodies is a group of bloggers, led by Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm, who want to add more fish and seafood to their diets.

Search hashtag #FishFridayFoodies on the third Friday of every month to see recipes based on the monthly theme.

This month's theme, Fish in a Dish, is hosted by Sue at Palatable Pastime. Check out all of the delicious offerings below the recipe!

yield: serves 8-10Author: Heather Schmitt-Gonzalezprint recipe

Cheesy Jalapeño Tuna Noodle Casserole

prep time: 10 MINScook time: 55 MINStotal time: 65 mins

Tuna casserole noodle casserole with a jalapeño kick (plus plenty of cheese and a nice, crunchy topping that's made with jalapeño kettle chips)!

INGREDIENTS:

For the casserole:

• 1 pound corkscrew (cavatappi) pasta
• 3 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup (I recommend Campbell's Healthy Request) or equivalent homemade
• 3 (5 ounce) cans water-packed tuna (solid or chunk), drained
• 3 cups finely shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup peas, thawed if frozen
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeños
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt + more for pasta water
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the topping:

• 3 cups jalapeño flavored kettle chips or potato chips
• 1 cup finely shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare the casserole:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a deep 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray or grease it with butter.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for 2 minutes less than the instructions on the package tell you to, then drain.
3. Combine the drained pasta and all of the remaining ingredients for the casserole in a very large bowl and stir well to combine. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Make the topping:

1. Place the chips in a gallon-sized ziploc baggie, then use your hands to crush them, leaving some fairly large pieces (be careful if using kettle chips - they might stab you, and it might hurt. Just sayin'.)
2. Add the cheese to the baggie and toss to combine. Scatter the mixture over the casserole.
3. Slide into preheated oven and bake until the top is golden and the casserole is bubbling, 50-55 minutes.

http://www.allroadsleadtothe.kitchen/2016/12/cheesy-jalapeno-tuna-noodle-casserole.html

©All Roads Lead to the Kitchen. Lightly adapted from Cravings by Chrissy Teigen.

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