One Pot Tuna Casserole

This recipe comes from Dave West.

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I have gotten lazier as the years have passed and have not really done any loaded touring. However, I will go back to the time when I backpacked and offer a simple, one pot recipe that can be easily prepared by a cycle tourist. The neat thing is that it consists of light weight (except for the can of tuna), non-perishable ingredients.

Ingredients

1 small can tuna fish (light or dark meat) packed in water
1 package of instant, dry soup mix (cream of whatever)
¼ lb egg noodles (half of an 8 ounce bag)
Water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Fill a medium sized pot about half to 2/3rds full of water and bring to a boil.
2. Salt the water.
3. Add the egg noodles and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, depending on the altitude and how tender you like your noodles.
4. When finished, pour off the water into another bowl or pot and reserve it for a little later.
5. Season the noodles with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Open the tuna and add it to the noodles.
7. Add the package of soup mix. (Note: if you are using the individual size soups, i.e. Cup-O-Soup, you may want to add two or three envelopes.)
8. Now add the reserved hot water back into the pot gradually. Do this a little at a time while stirring the pot, until the soup and water create a thick sauce.
9. Return the mixture to the low setting on the stove to thoroughly heat the tuna and sauce.

This gives you dinner in about 25 minutes, most of which is used to cook the noodles. This recipe would serve one very hungry cyclist or two average people well.

Alternatives

This recipe is really a strategy, one that combines dried pasta (to save weight), a canned meat, poultry or fish, and a soup mix for seasoning. The mix and match varieties are infinitely variable. You could easily do the same thing with raw hamburg.

If I splurged on fresh meat I would fry the hamburg with chopped onion and crushed garlic, then set them aside while the noodles cooked. Pour off the water and reserve. Add back the meat and a package of onion soup mix.

For a chicken entrée in a pot I would cover half a chicken breast, and half an onion with water and boil until done. Set the chicken aside to cool slightly, reserving the water the chicken cooked in. Cook the egg noodles and then discard the noodle water. Hand shred the chicken into the noodle pot and add the soup mix of your choice. Add the chicken water (broth) to make the sauce. Again, season with salt and pepper to taste.

I hope this helps some of my fellow tourists.

Dave West