tuna and vegetable slice

Tinned tuna (or tinned salmon if you prefer) is useful to have in the pantry for easy meals.

I know there are a lot of ethical issues with eating tinned tuna and I’ve mentioned before that eating has become really complicated.

Is the tuna dolphin (and other marine animal) friendly (generally not, despite claims on the tin); is it sustainable (are tuna being overfished or farmed); is there BPA in the tins (generally, yes); can I afford the alternatives?

Good golly, I just get too tired to think about all this some days. What’s a mum to do?

Here’s what I do:

• Eat less of the foods that aren’t so good environmentally. We eat a lot of vegetarian meals these days – more and more, meat is becoming an occasional food.
• Buy the best I can afford – sometimes best isn’t very good at all. The realities of life is that you have to balance budget with ideals.
• Accept that sometimes we eat stuff that’s less than ideal.

Which brings me back to today’s tinned tuna recipe, tinned tuna being a useful pantry staple for those nights when you need something easy from the pantry to fall back on.

You know, those nights.

This recipe was adapted from one I found in the cookbook: “A Generous Hand: Treasured Recipes from the People of Queensland”. This is one of the few library books I’ve actually gone out and bought and I’ve made quite a few recipes from it.

I’ve swapped out some of the packaged ingredients and added a whole lot of vegetables. Serve with salad and crusty bread or if it is one of those nights, the vegetables mean this is a complete meal on it’s own.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 20 x 20cm baking tin.
2. Cook rice until tender, drain and cool slightly (or use leftover cooked rice). Mix in the melted butter and parmesan cheese. Press rice mixture into the baking tin (this is the slice base).
3. Sauté the onion in a little oil until tender.
4. In a bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, milk and mustard until smooth then add the tuna, cooked vegetables, celery and onion.
5. Pour egg mixture over rice and bake for 40 minutes or until set. Slice and serve.

Have you read these posts?

1. Tuna Mornay Plus
2. tuna rissoles
3. tuna noodle bake
4. Tuna Burritos
5. sausage, cannellini bean and vegetable stew