This Spiced Tomato Tuna Noodle Bake Made Me a Believer

First, you need to know that tuna noodle casserole is absolutely not my jam. On paper I seem like the exact right audience: I’m not picky, I love a baked pasta, and I must have at least one can of tuna (ideally the olive oil-packed stuff) in my pantry at all times, in case of a mealtime emergency. But something about the creamy, dairy-laden sauce turns me off—to the point that I’ve managed to never try a bite of the real thing in almost 30 years of being alive.

So a few months ago, when a friend and I visited Saint Julivert for the first time, and saw one on the menu, I surprised even myself by suggesting that we order it.

Saint Julivert is a neighborhood seafood restaurant in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, the latest from chef and owner Alex Raij (also behind El Quinto Pino, Txikito, and La Vara—all Spanish stalwarts in NYC). On the menu, the tuna noodle casserole is billed as a crispy tuna bake and, full disclosure, I’d read about it in a review before our dinner date, so I knew it wasn’t the beige and gloopy stuff of my nightmares. Instead, Raij’s tuna bake is a deep brick red, thanks to a toasty, complex tomato sauce, with crunchy, blackened blistered spots across the top from a stint under the broiler. It comes to the table in a very cute single-serving cast iron skillet topped with a sprinkling of herbs and a plop of sunny aioli, which adds a bit of richness to every bite. I demolished it, and had to have a frank discussion with myself when the empty dish was cleared away. Was I a tuna noodle casserole person now? Possibly, but only in a world where the Alex Raij version reigned supreme.

The secret behind the tuna bake at Saint Julivert is that it’s only part tuna noodle casserole; the other source of inspiration is fideuà, a toasty, tomatoey, paella-style dish from northern Spain. Instead of rice, fideuà is made with short, skinny noodles, which you toast until golden brown in oil to keep them from losing all their texture later, when they’re cooked. Raij follows that technique at Saint Julivert, toasting pasta (she likes tiny tubes, like ditali or mezzi rigatoni) before setting them aside to build a smoky, slightly spiced tomato sauce. The toasted pasta cooks right in the sauce, first on the stove and then in the oven, with the flaked canned tuna stirred in.

"Toasting the pasta gives it a whole different dimension," says Raij. "It's able to absorb and retain so much more flavor while it cooks, and brings a little nuttiness to the dish as well." The mash up marries her roots in Minneapolis in the 70s and 80s with the Spanish and Moorish flavors that her restaurants are known for. "It's a midwestern tuna casserole-meets-baked ziti with my own perspective and personal experience layered on. I knew it would be a curiosity for people, not just because it's unique and improvised, but also because it's not typical seafood restaurant fare."

Cooking all my meals at home for the past few weeks, relying on pantry staples, I couldn’t stop thinking about Saint Julivert’s comforting and bright tuna bake, and resolved to make a version for myself. This recipe is simple and happens all in one 10-inch cast iron skillet (more practical than the little guys but distinctly less adorable), finished with a similar sprinkling of fresh herbs, if you have them, and a spoonful of creamy aioli. If you’ve never made aioli before, don’t worry: it’s as easy as emulsifying a salad dressing, and the results put jarred mayo to shame. In fact, I have to insist you at least try it, as nothing balances out the tomato sauce—and lends the tuna a little luxurious coating of fat—in quite the same way. I recognize that this may be exactly what the creamy sauce in regular tuna noodle casserole is doing, but at this rate I’ll never know for sure. It’s only toasty, tomatoey, fideuà-style tuna casserole for me, from here on out.

Spicy Tomato–Tuna Noodle Skillet Casserole With Aioli

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Saint Julivert—and the other restaurants owned by Alex Raij—have had to close. Consider donating to support the team here.

Originally Appeared on Epicurious