Meatless Friday: Creamed Tuna over Toast

We welcome Catholic author Margaret Mary Myers, whose family cookbook features 18 meatless recipes as well as dozens of other family favorites. Here’s a simple comfort-food recipe that can be made quickly from ingredients you probably already have in the pantry!

Creamed Tuna over Toast

Serves 4-5 people OR 8-10 people:

6 Tablespoons softened butter OR ¾ cup softened butter
6 Tablespoons flour OR ¾ cup flour
3 cups milk OR 6 cups milk
3 cans (5-7 ounces each) tuna OR 6 cans (5-7 oz. ea.) tuna
¾ teaspoon salt OR 1 ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce OR ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
dash of paprika OR dash of paprika

I had been afraid to make cream sauces, because I hated those dreaded lumps, until I tried turning off the burner (if it is a gas stove) or taking the pan off the element (if it is an electric burner) before adding the flour to the butter, or adding the milk to the butter and flour mixture.  For me, that made all the difference.

Melt butter over low heat. Turn off burner and remove from heat. Mix in flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, to blend and to cook out the flour taste. Turn off burner and remove from heat again.

Add milk, a little at a time, stirring until smooth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. As soon as bubbles begin to form, turn to low and cook and stir until desired consistency. Add tuna and seasonings.

Serve hot over toast, bread, biscuits, mashed potatoes, or rice. When I was growing up, we also had creamed chipped beef or creamed (chopped) hard-boiled eggs.

Fans of home cooking will enjoy the recipes (which include plenty of handy kitchen tips) in the Myers Family Cookbook, which is available as an ebook or paperback at Amazon.

Copyright 2014 Margaret Mary Myers