Tuna Bake

I know, I know. It's been a week since I last posted. I don't really have any excuses. It's my last week with my family before I go back to Brisbane so in my defence, I have been spending a lot of time with them and my friends, and haven't been near the kitchen.

In the past week I looked after my adorable cousins, went out with my high school friends till 4 in the morning (which meant I was like a walking zombie for the next few days), ate Australia's coat of arms (which my brother so happily reminded me of after I had thoroughly enjoyed a tasting plate involving emu, crocodile, kangaroo, buffalo, and barramundi), ate five beautifully cooked yabbies (the resturant gave me six, with a tomato salsa and rice, but I could only get through five), stayed up until 3 in the morning to watch Andy Murray's heroic Wimledon final, went and saw The Amazing Spiderman with my two best friends from high school (we were the only girls in the cinema without boyfriends or family members), booked my hotel in New York (I leave in less than six months now!) and my wonderful parents bought me an I-pad yesterday.

So I've had two days at home in the past week. One was spent barely leaving my bed, and reading every article about Andy Murray and how the world now loves him. Side note: I totally cried when he lost. Mostly when he started crying. He was so brave.

The other day I actually ventured into the kitchen and tried out an idea of mine, which was actually successful, so hopefully I will share that with you next week when I'm home alone and my parents and brother are at work and school.

So today's recipe is something I make frequently when I am too tired or lazy to make a proper dinner, but I still want something more substantial than toast or cereal. It is very easy - I cannot even begin to express how little you have to do here. If you can peel and cut potatoes, you can make this dinner.

In addition to being easy, it is not very time-consuming. If you cut the potatoes small, they will boil quickly, and the actual baking of the dinner does not take too much time.

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Average Cost: $

Main Ingredients: there are only really three – tuna, potato and cheese

Menu Options: You can substitute tuna for any other canned fish. I assume this would even work with fish you have already cooked – potato and fish are obvious food partners.

Serves 2 – 4 people, depending on serving size. The nutritional stats are for four servings.

What you need:

-          3 medium – large potatoes (I used Nadine, but you can use whatever type you prefer. Also, the amount of potato you use depends on how much you want – you can use less if you want).

-          2 tbsp butter

-          ¼ - ½ cup milk

-          4 tins tuna (my tins were 95 g) – I also recommend using tuna without oil or if using tuna in oil, drain the oil before using the tuna in this recipe

-          ¾ cup grated cheese, any kind – I prefer cheddar for this bake

What to do:

Peel and cut the potatoes into small cubes. Place in a saucepan of boiling water (slightly salted water works best) and boil for approximately 20 minutes, or until the potato is soft.

While the potatoes are boiling, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Once the potatoes are boiled, add the milk and butter to the saucepan and mash the potatoes. You can add more or less milk depending on how creamy you want the potatoes to be.

Spray an oven proof tin with oil – this just helps with the cleaning after. I used a glass tin approximately 22 cm x 12.5 cm. Fill the bottom of the tin with tuna – spread the tuna evenly across the bottom. Use more or less tuna depending on taste and size of tin.

Spread the mashed potato over the top of the tuna. Salt the potato to taste if not salty enough.

Add the grated cheese to the top of the potato, spreading evenly.

Bake in an oven for 20 – 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and slightly bubbling. The top of the mixture should be golden brown.