"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?
OKey Dokey. Just made this dish and added some corn as some suggested and again great. I actually used some Lay's herb and onion flavor chips I had left over and it added a nice crunch to the dish after I broiled it for 2 minutes at the end.
Thanks again for sharing!
<drool>
That looks absolutely yummy. Thank you!
humboldt:
Your picture looks so yummy! I would have loved peas in mine but my husband won't eat anything with peas in it. :)
I made some changes to the recipe:
1. Portabella mushrooms are prohibitively expensive at my store, so I used regular white mushrooms.
2. I don't regularly buy nut milk, so I used rice milk powder that was a bit sweet even though it was supposed to be regular.
3. I added 1/4 cup of flour so the sauce would thicken properly, but I also added kelp flakes and 1/4 cup of the dry seasoning mix (nutritional yeast base) from the Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms recipe (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=11261.0) to add extra creaminess. I didn't have paprika, so I substituted with ground chipotle powder.
4. It's not tuna casserole for me unless it's packed with peas, so I added a small bag of peas and carrots.
There was a hint of sweetness from the rice milk, but it wasn't too bad. There was no hint of tuna, but because there is a tuna taste in Mock Tuna Salad, there might be more in this recipe if more garbanzo beans are added.
I'm definitely going to make this recipe again. It makes a lot, so be prepared to eat it for the week or make for a potluck. I'll have no problem eating this for the next week.
Thanks for the recipe, kmouse!
I was seriously in the mood for a creamy casserole one day and I kept thinking of the tuna casseroles I had as a kid. This is a really good and filling meal.
Just so you know, the chickpeas in this recipe stand in for the "tuna". And no, it doesn't taste like tuna at all but it definitely gives you the protein you need. :)
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