Recipes › Tuna mornay pasta bake
Tuna mornay pasta bake

Ingredients
servings
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C fan-forced. Cook the pasta 2 minutes short of the packet time. It finishes in the oven. Drain.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk it in, then keep cooking for a full 2 minutes, stirring. This cooks out the flour taste. Skipping it is why home mornay can taste pasty.
- Take the pan off the heat and add the milk in three goes, whisking smooth after each addition before adding more. Lumps form when you add it all at once.
- Return to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 5–6 minutes until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Off the heat, stir in two-thirds of the cheese until melted. Season well with salt and pepper. Mornay takes more salt than you'd think.
- Fold in the pasta, tuna, peas and spring onions. Break the tuna into large flakes rather than stirring it to mush. Add a squeeze of lemon.
- Tip into a baking dish, scatter the remaining cheese and the breadcrumbs over the top.
- Bake for 20–25 minutes until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbling at the edges. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Use tuna in springwater and drain it well. Tuna in oil makes the sauce greasy.
- Add a teaspoon of Dijon to the sauce with the cheese if you want it sharper.