Recipe Friday: Mama’s Tuna Roll

Tuna Roll Recipe

This recipe is found in its complete form in my cookbook, The Magnificent Pantry, including how to make the crust yourself! There are over 250 recipes in the cookbook of delicious magical dishes made from shelf-stable ingredients. It’s available in digital, paperback and hardback format.

Knowing that I’d be out of sorts this week and that the server work would be underway I put together this recipe about a week and a half ago. I don’t know about you, but sometimes after cooking in the kitchen I can completely lose my appetite. But I had to taste this though, right? After one bite I remembered once again why this dish is good as a comfort dish, a very inexpensive dish (especially when there are coupons involved) and can even hang out with other dinner party dishes to boot! Who knew that you could “entertain” using canned tuna fish? Martha Stewart would definitely dispute that point, but I think we’ll just have to let your taste buds decide.

Any slightly sweet bread dough will work in lieu of the crescent roll dough, so don’t let that stop you from making this. You could also use a vodka infused pie crust with spectacular results. (the vodka in the crust assures a light and flaky texture that would make any home cook scream with envy).

If you use freeze-dried peas in this, not only will you get a nice splash of color, but that color is more likely to remain at that vibrant green color instead of going to that yucky brown color reminiscent of mushy canned vegetables.

Mama’s Tuna Roll (Serves 8 – 10)

2 cans of tuna, drained

1/2 cup Miracle Whip (you can use regular mayonnaise but you’ll get a little more zip in the flavor if you use Miracle Whip)

½ cup of Italian shredded cheese mix such as Costco’s 4-Cheese Italian Cheese Mix

½ package (4 ounces) of cream cheese, cut into cubes then brought to room temperature

1 can of cream of celery soup

½ T. granulated onion

1 T. Italian herb seasoning (I like Shirley J’s Pizza Pasta Seasoning)

1 cup of freeze-dried peas (optional)

1 can of Pillsbury crescent rolls or crescent rounds—slightly chilled for easy handling

Topping:

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 cup of parmesan cheese (I like to use Costco’s grated 4 cheese Italian cheese mix)

1/2 cup of milk or half and half

¼ cup of finely cut Flat Italian Parsley

1 stick of butter

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium sized bowl, mix the tuna, mayo, cream cheese, cheese mix, celery soup, and peas together in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Roll out the crescent rolls all together until they form one flat rectangle.

Spoon the tuna mixture over the bread dough leaving about a ½ inch border of the dough, all around, without the tuna filling. You do not want to put this mixture on too thick as it will make the dish too heavy.

Once you’ve finished spreading out your mixture, carefully roll the dough up like a “jelly roll”. (I like it to be as long as possible.

Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with a non-stick spray and then carefully place your jelly roll in the middle of the dish, seam side down.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes

Meanwhile, in a medium-sized sauce pan, mix together the cream of mushroom soup, the cheese, and quarter cup of milk.  Stir and warm on medium high heat just until the ingredients are mixed well together and the mixture is nicely warmed through and slightly thickened.

When the tuna roll is finished cooking, it will be slightly golden brown. Remove it from the oven and set aside.

Mix together the crushed cracker crumbs and melted butter to create a butter crumb topping. Top the tuna roll with all but about ¾ cups of the mixture. (Reserve the ¾ cup of warm mixture to serve as a gravy on individual portions of the tuna roll.) Then top with the crumbled cracker mixture.

Return the tuna roll  to the oven for about 10 minutes..

Serve in 1 ½ inch to 2 inch slices topped with a little more of the topping and the chopped parsley.

Serve warm.

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