Cheesy tuna pasta bake

   This recipe was born from a craving. Let me explain myself. After a lot of heavy meaty meals during the winter holidays, I felt like tuna for a change and I realized I missed pasta as well so I decided to marry the two and make a tuna pasta bake. I made a similar recipe once before but I wasn't super impressed with it, so this time I looked up some inspirational recipes. I found one I liked and I decided to tweak it and this is how this recipe was born :)  It's soooo cheesy and soooo delicious you'll really want to go back for more! ;) I feel like cooking it again already :)))

Ingredients for about 3-4 servings:

- about 200 g of fusilli pasta or your preferred pasta

- a tin of tuna chunks in sunflower or olive oil 

- 3 cloves garlic, crushed

- a pinch of dried oregano 

- a pinch of chilli flakes

- 1 teaspoon mashed anchovy filets or paste

- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

- a 500 ml bottle of home made tomato sauce (Romanian "bulion") or a good quality store bought one

- about 100 g of grated Gruyere cheese or Parm cheese 

- about 6 slices of smoked cheese 

Steps:

1. Combine tuna and its oil from the tin, garlic, anchovies, oregano, and chilli flakes in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir and cook for 1 minute once oil begins to sizzle.

2. Stir in the tomato sauce. Increase heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes.

3. Fill a large pot with oregano salted water and bring to a boil. Cook your pasta until just slightly undercooked (2 min less than the package advice), then drain. 

4. Stir cooked pasta into the tuna tomato mixture, then add the Gruyere or the Parm.

5. Pour everything in a glass tray and cover it with the slices of smoked cheese.

6. Put the tray in the oven at 185C for about 15-20 min or until the cheese on top starts to melt.

Bon appetit! :)