Recipe Tuna Pasta Bake

This filling tasty dish has become one of my weekly favourites. If you are rotating or are gluten free then you could substitute buckwheat pasta or corn pasta for the whole-wheat variety but amounts and cooking times will vary.

Ingredients for one/two servings 

Whole-wheat or wheatfree pasta of your choice
½ tin of tuna in olive or sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of butter 
1cup of soya milk 
2 heaped teaspoons of rice flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cheese - optional if you are allowed it yet.
1 medium onion chopped or in rings - optional

Method
Melt the butter over a medium heat, stir in the rice flour then blend in the soya milk heating gently until the sauce thickens. Set aside and heat a large pan of water until boiling for the pasta. Put in the pasta with a pinch of salt and heat until just tender. This will depend on the type of pasta you are using. Buckwheat cooks faster than wholewheat. If you want to include some fried or sauted onions then this is the time too prepare them. 

When the pasta is cooked drain it and add it to the white sauce. This way you can stop adding the pasta if there is not enough sauce but if you add the sauce to the pasta and you have not got enough then the dish will be too dry. Add the drained tuna, pepper and onions and warm through gently stirring so as not to break up the tuna. Technically it is ready at this point but I like to put it in a casserole dish in a warm oven for about 15 minutes to crisp on top while I make a nice salad to accompany it.

If you are able to eat cheese of whatever variety then place it on top before you put the dish in the oven. It will melt and run over the top. Although cheese is excluded at the start of the diet, after some time you may be able to introduce a little chese providing you rotate it. It does make a difference to the dish but do not include it if you are in any doubt.

(Courtsey Nutritional Therapist Pamela Singh)