Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Waffling Leftovers: Tuna Noodle Casserole

What do you do when you have leftover tuna noodle casserole?  By now, you can probably guess what I do.  Yup, I waffle it.  If this concept is new to you, start back at my master post on the glory that is waffling leftovers.  I promise, it will transform your life.

As you've read about the past few weeks, I've discovered that pasta waffles quite well, like lasagna and mac and cheese, so I figured tuna noodle casserole would be the same.  I'd get all the delicious crispy bits, and, since the cream sauce would break a little if I just reheated it traditionally, it would likely even come out better this way.

So, will it waffle?  Duh, yes!
The Original: Truffled Tuna Noodle Casserole.
The original was pure comfort food, tuna noodle casserole, albeit a fancy one.  The base was egg noodles in a cream sauce, with peas, mushrooms, truffles, and plenty of dill, plus chunks of wild albacore tuna.  It was crusted with panko, and embellished with truffle oil.  Like I said ... fancy tuna noodle casserole!

It was comforting, creamy, and quite fantastic.  I still drool thinking back on it.
The Leftovers: Truffled Tuna Noodle Casserole.
The leftovers, while perhaps not visually appealing, were still delicious, and reheated fine in the toaster oven, (and even better if I put it under the broiler at the very end to crisp up the top!).  Yes, I love crispy bits, a big appeal of the waffle iron for me.  Which of course got me thinking ... if I love crispy bits on this, why not ... waffle it?
Waffled Tuna Noodle Casserole!
It worked just about as expected.  Super crispy.  Fun to eat.  But definitely not creamy.  I quite enjoyed it, as I love crunchy texture.  The only part that didn't quite work was the tuna.  The casserole wasn't made with canned tuna, rather, large chunks of grilled albacore.  The chunks that were inside the waffle were fine, they stayed moist and tender, but the pieces that touched the grilled got very dried out, almost jerky-like.  Not bad exactly, but I think it would have been best to craft my waffle a little better, with the tuna inside, and the noodles outside.  The peas also got crazy crispy in a fun way, like bar snacks.

Overall, success!

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