We were having two of our granddaughters over for dinner on Ash Wednesday, so I was looking for a good kid-friendly Lenten dish.  I decided to try a tuna casserole recipe from an old Midwestern cookbook, Mary Mead’s Country Cooking.  This is different from the typical tuna casserole since it is essentially a custard.  It reminded me a little bit of chawanmushi, the savory  custards which are popular in Japan.  The granddaughters did approve.  Here is my variation of the Mary Meade recipe:

 

¼ cup butter

1 bell pepper, chopped (I used red)

¼ large onion, chopped

1-1/2 cups whole milk

¼ cup pimento or other roasted pepper, chopped

½ lb. Velveeta or other process cheese

3 eggs, well beaten

½ tsp. salt

4 oz. egg noodles, cooked

2 cans (6.5-7 oz.), flaked

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and heat water for a water bath

 Put the butter, bell pepper, onion, milk, pimento, and Velveeta in a large saucepan, and cook over low heat until the Velveeta has fully melted.  Stir occasionally.  Add the beaten eggs and salt, and mix well.  Mix in the cooked noodles and tuna, and put everything in a large well-greased casserole dish.  Put the casserole dish in a larger dish (such as a lasagna pan), place in the oven and pour hot water into the larger dish to form a water bath.  Cook about 35 minutes until the top is golden and a knife comes out clean.