Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole

Have you been missing that creamy, soul satisfying dish of...something, since you stopped eating gluten and/or dairy? I was messing around in the kitchen tonight, and came up with this Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole that will satisfy every fall craving you have had!

You will need:

1 - 8 oz package of rice noodles - I used Annie Chun's brand of pad thai noodles from King's
2 large cans Tuna packed in water, drained well
6 Cups broth - I used a garlic broth from "The Gluten Free Italian Cookbook" by Mary Capone
1 Tablespoon butter, or dairy free butter substitute
3-4 T olive oil
3 T gluten free flour blend
2 T arrowroot powder
4-5 stalks celery, diced fine
2-3 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/2 onion minced very fine, or 3 Tablespoons dry, minced onion, rehydrated
1-2 C frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste

* Bring a pot of salted water to boil for rice noodles, but don't add noodles just yet.

* In a large skillet or wok, add a bit of olive oil to pan and sautee onion, garlic and celery. When tender, remove to a plate.

* Add butter and 3-4 Tablespoons of olive oil to pan, melt butter. Add pinch salt and pepper, and then with a whisk, briskly stir as you add flour to oil/butter, you want it to be pretty thick, add a bit more flour if necessary.

* Again, with whisk, briskly stir as you slowly put 5 cups broth into the pan. Try and keep the lumps out, if you can. Take the remaining one cup of broth and whisk in 2 T arrowroot powder, then stir into pan. Guess what? You just made a roux!! Yay for you!! Turn the heat to medium and stir often as the broth mixture starts to thicken. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

* Go ahead and drop the rice noodles into the boiling water, stir, cover and turn off heat. Set timer for 10 minutes.

* Put sauteed veggies, drained tuna and peas into the sauce. Taste and add more salt/pepper, if desired.

* Continue to stir, til sauce thickens nicely. Add drained rice noodles, stir well and check salt/pepper again.

* Serve hot and enjoy!


Garlic Soup Stock
Mary Capone, p 41 in her book, listed above

2 quarts cold water
2 heads of garlic, skinned and smashed
1 large, yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried)
3 T fresh sage leaves (I used 2 T dried, rubbed sage)
3 T fresh oregano or savory (I used dried oregano)
salt to taste
6 whole peppercorns

combine all in large stock pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, with pot covered for 2 hours. Strain into a container and salt to taste.