sevenhelz

it's actually ridiculously simple.

anyhoo. pasta bake recipe. i basically live on this so you know it's tasty.

tuna (one tin - the small tins are useful for the size i make)
tinned tomatoes
pesto
cheese
herbs, salt and pepper
pasta
more cheese

right. you can make this in a bowl to get a lovely even mix, or you can chuck it straight into a casserole dish (overproof pan if you're stuck).

tinned tomatoes first. cut off the ends and any nasty bits, chop them up. i use scissors.

put in exactly one dollop of pesto (most jars will have a wide enough neck for your average tablespoon. i'm just sayin).

chuck in your tuna - the bigger your tin, the richer it'll be. use the pestoey spoon to scrape out the tin, why don'tcha.

salt and pepper to taste, and put in some herbs. my standard herbs are basil, sage, thyme and rosemary; go light on the basil since you're already using pesto, but smell everything and put in more of what smells best.

grate in some cheese. i like quite a lot of cheese, and i like it to be lancashire. crumbly cheeses work well in that they don't melt into your mix the same way, but whatever, really.

mix it all up really well using that there spoon again. if you see any big chunks of tuna or cheese or tomato just squish em a bit.

pour in some pasta. probably not too much at first. you want to get a nice, even coating, with enough liquid in the mix to cook it fairly evenly (you can pre-cook your pasta, this is the lazy version).

if you've been mixing in a bowl, once you're happy with it all, chuck it into your casserole dish.

grate more cheese on top. if you use something like a red leicester you'll get a nice melty effect, depending what temp/time you bake it for.

bake on gas mark 6ish for about half an hour. test with a fork to see that the bottom layers of pasta are cooked. it's not unusual for the top layer to be a bit crunchier. don't worry, it won't kill you, but if this is happening regularly you could put a bit more water in your mix in future.

while it's baking you could make some biscuits.

if you want more vegetables in your life, i suggest embracing onions, carrots and peppers. and anything else you particularly feel like. again you can cook these in advance (shallow fry with a bit of black pepper) but you don't have to. you might want a bit more moisture again to balance up if you don't. spinach works quite well; cabbage needs to be chopped quite finely. and etcetera.

edited to add: it'll taste better the longer you cook it, it probably wants more salt than you'd expect, and don't be afraid to cook it twice (safety rule: ensure it is piping hot throughout on recooking). If there's enough left for a third cooking let me know how that goes, too.