Tuna Lasagne

Here we have an easy peasy tuna lasagne recipe that can go as spicy as you want.

Lasagne is usually prepared with minced beef. However, swapping that for canned tuna means you don’t have to spend hours prepping and simmering a meat sauce.

The white sauce that provides the necessary creamy contrast to the tomatoey tuna sauce, is quite easy to make too, and really, really lovely if we may say so ourselves.

As for the lasagne sheets, we used Agnesi Lasagne (Le Lasagne le Specialita), which we got from one of our partners MHA. Agnesi is a reputed pasta brand from Italy, and according to the brand’s website, they are the oldest Italian pasta factory.

These lasagne sheets are oven ready, meaning you don’t have to boil them before layering the lasagne. But what we most loved about Agnesi Lasagne is that they stayed al dente throughout the baking process. Many a times we had lasagne sheets going soggy resulting in messy layers. These stayed intact and provided the dish with a really great bite.

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

For the tuna sauce

• 2 medium onions
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 large tomatoes
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 ½ tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tbsp. mixed dried herbs
• 2 tuna cans (total 360g)
• 1 can peeled tomatoes (250g)
• 1/3 cup water
• ½ tsp. salt (or to taste)
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp. dried chilli flakes (or to taste)

For the white sauce

• 1 litre full cream milk
• 100 g butter
• 7 tbsp. flour
• ¾ tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1/3 tsp. ground black pepper (or to taste)

Rest of the ingredients:

• 1 box Agnesi Lasagne (Le Lasagne le Specialita)
• 175 g shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Quarter the tomatoes and deseed. Cut the tomatoes into ½ inch pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a large pot and add the onions. Sauté until the onions soften and then add the garlic and sauté for another minute or until the garlic softens too.
3. Then add the chopped tomatoes, mix to combine and then cook until the tomatoes soften. It’ll take around 5 minutes on medium heat. You don’t have to cook them to the point that they go mushy.
4. Add the tomato paste and mixed dried herbs. Mix to combine and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the canned tuna (drained), peeled tomatoes and water. Mix to combine and break the peeled tomatoes up a little my smashing them against the side of the pot.
6. Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Add the salt, pepper and red chilli flakes. Taste and make any adjustments you’d like. Let the mixture simmer for 2 minutes and that’s it for the tuna sauce.
7. To make the white sauce first heat up the milk in a pot. Don’t let it bubble; heat it to the point where bubbles start to form and set it aside.
8. Melt the butter in a large pot and then add the flour and cook while stirring constantly until it starts bubbling.
9. Add the milk (it should still be hot) and continue stirring until you get a thick sauce. It should thicken in a few minutes when cooked on medium heat. Quickly add in the salt and pepper, and give it one final good mix.
10. Preheat the oven at 190 degrees Celsius.
11. Now for assembling the lasagne (We made ours in a 12 by 18 inch tray, so the instructions are for a lasagne dish of that size. You can bake yours in multiple small trays and adjust accordingly). First take 5 tbsp. of the white sauce and spread it on the bottom of the tray. Then place Agnesi Lasagne sheets on top of it (lengthwise) in a single layer. Then spread half of your tuna sauce on top of the lasagne sheets. Then spread half of your white sauce on top of the tuna sauce and top that with half of your cheese.
12. Repeat step 11 (except for the part in which you spread the white sauce at the bottom) once again.
13. Place the tray on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the top looks brown. When done, remove from the oven and wait 10 minutes before digging in so that the layers can settle down.