"Tuna" Mushroom Casserole
4 tablespoons vegan margarine, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
10 ounces baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 cup flour
2 cups veggie broth
1 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk (I use soy)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste
paprika, to taste
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and mashed
8 ounces fusilli pasta
1/2 cup crushed plain potato chips
1/2 cup French fried onions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare an 8x8" glass baking dish with a quick spray of cooking oil. Heat 1 tablespoon vegan margarine in a pan. Add onion, celery and mushrooms and saute for a few minutes. When mushrooms give off liquid, add soy sauce. Keep cooking until all vegetables are tender, turn off heat.
2. In a medium soup pot, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons vegan margarine over low heat. Stir in the flour and whisk for a few minutes. It will get thick. Start adding the broth bit by bit, whisking all the while and bring to a boil. Add the milk little by little and continue to stir and simmer.
3. Add the mushroom/celery/onion mixture and lemon juice. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. Add the mashed chickpeas a spoonful at a time to break it up evenly throughout the sauce.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions, until al dente, approximately 9 minutes. Drain and return it to the pot. Add the mushroom sauce to the pasta and stir gently to combine. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 15 minutes.
5. Uncover the dish and sprinkle crushed chips and French fried onions on top and bake for another 5-6 minutes or so or until the top is browned and crispy.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I just finished making this. It is great!!! Just a few modifications...I added peas and did not put anything on top (didn't have anything in the cabinet). I think next time I will add some nutritional yeast, as someone else suggested.
Has anyone tried freezing the leftovers? I'm cooking for one and know I won't be able to eat all of this.
yum!
i halved the recipe, added about three tablespoons of nutritional yeast, and about half a cup of frozen peas before i put the casserole into the oven. i onyl put the french fried onions on top because we didnt have any chips, but it was still very tasty!
i actually hate chickpeas (and all beans..i might be the only vegan who does...) but i didnt even notice them in this! hooray!
i wanted a casserole but didnt have many of the ingredients needed for this- no chick peas or celery- no chips-no fried onions.....i just added a ton of extra mushrooms, peas, and some yellow squah- i sauteeed it all up threw it in the oven with some noodles- and damn- it was good. ohh also made a crumb topping to sprinkle on. it was just what me and my two year old were craving on a rainy movie day
Replacements I made:
Original Enriched Rice Dream for the soy milk
Seasoned rice vinegar balsamic blend in place of the soy sauce
Olive oil in place of the margarine for cooking the veggies (but not for making the base)
Other comments:
I diced the veggies super fine. I added some peas and will add more peas and probably some small diced carrots next time. I kept the chickpeas right at 1 cup, which was a little less than a can's worth, but next time I'll just use the entire can.
Review:
This was delicious! :D
It tasted like a really awesome French onion soup with a hint of cream of mushroom made into a casserole. The meat-eaters (including the mushroom haters) loved it and asked me to make it again. I'd give it 5 stars!
To me this taste just like tuna casserole, without the tuna of course. ;) We loved it!
Soooooooo Yummy..Will definitely make again.so filling.
Pretty good. My husband liked it a lot, even though he picked out the mushrooms. I too used bread crumbs in place of the potato chips and made my own French fried onions using the directions found in the comment section of this recipe (5th comment):
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6137.0
Added peas and a large handful of nutritional yeast because I thought the sauce need a little bit more flavor. I also used elbows instead of fusilli because I couldn't find a whole grain version of fusilli. Turned out just fine. Will make again. Thanks for the recipe!
Made this, it was yummy!
This was pretty tasty. I used regular white button mushrooms as decent portabellas can be somewhat difficult to obtain in my area. They did the trick, I think, but I'm sure portabellas would have been tastier. I also added some of dragonfly's uncheese mix and substituted the potato chips with bread crumbs. Definitely satisfied the creamy casserole craving! :)
Pages