Want to cook really fast, light, and healthy dinner for 4? No problem, today I’ll share with you a recipe of gratin with tuna and white beans.

Actually, graten is more like cooking technique, then a separate dish as people think. But, if consider it as a dish, it’s simply that very cheese crust on top.

Therefore we can call graten (graten/gratin) any dish that at the end of cooking is baking in the oven until a golden crust (yes, there are specific ingredients for this crust, but we’ll talk about it later).

In this recipe, you’ll get so gentle and sweet beans and tuna filling under the cheese flavored crust. This mix we’ll add a bit of hotness and spiciness with chili pepper. And this way lighten up the gentleness and smoothness overall.

This dish is quite self-sufficient and hearty itself, but if you serve it with fried toast and green salad it would great as well. Also, it perfectly matches with fresh cucumber and other vegetables too.

What you Need to Cook Graten with Tuna and White Beans

INGREDIENTS:

1 onion
6 cloves of garlic
2 cans (1,8 lb) of pickled white beans (400 g each)
1 can (5,5-7 oz) of tuna in olive oil (160-200 g)
2 tbsp of milk
2 tbsp of heavy cream
1 dry chili
100 g (3,5 oz) of fine cheese
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
A few slices of butter (20 g (0,7 oz))
Vegetable oil
Salt, pepper

EQUIPMENT:

Food processor/blender/hand blender

How to Make Graten with Tuna and White Beans: Step-by-Step Instructions🔪

Turn on the oven on the top-bottom mode, 180 °C.

6 cloves of garlic peel and chop with a knife. 1 middle-sized onion finely dice.

Dice 1 onion for graten with tuna and white beans

Heat up on the middle fire a few tbsp of oil in the big frying pan.

Add onion and cook until mild for 5-7 minutes, stirring once in a while.

Cook onion until mild for graten with tuna and white beans

Add garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes more.

Add garlic for graten with tuna and white beans

Now add 1 can of beans 400 g (14 oz) to the frying pan, but drain the water beforehand. The second can 400 g (14 oz) add with juice.

Add 1 can of beans to the frying pan for graten with tuna and white beans

Add second can of beans to the frying pan for graten with tuna and white beans

Mix, salt, and pepper. Minimize the fire and cook for 5 minutes while stirring from time to time.

Meanwhile, grate 100 g (3,5 oz) of hard cheese.

Grate cheese for graten with tuna and white beans

Put everything from the frying pan into the food processor/blender (if you have a hand one – put everything into the bowl) and mash.

Put everything into the food processor for graten with tuna and white beans

Mash ingrediehts for graten with tuna and white beans

Finely chop 1 dry chili pepper. If you don’t have one, use the regular one.

Chop 1 dry chili pepper for graten with tuna and white beans

Add 2 tbsp. of fat cream, 2 tbsp. of milk, a can of tuna 160-200 g (5,5-7 oz) depending which one do you have), half of the grated cheese and chopped pepper into the food processor or bowl.

Mix with a spatula. Don’t save on tuna, it should be high quality in olive oil (preferably, virgin one). Taste and salt more if needed.

Add cream, milk, a can of tuna, cheese and pepper for graten with tuna and white beans

Mix everything with a spatula for graten with tuna and white beans

Put the mass into the baking form. The 24×12 is a suitable size for this amount of ingredients. But that’s not a problem if it’s a bit bigger or smaller.

Make a crumb coat –2 tbsp– (you can use bought breadcrumbs as well as take stale bread, put into the food processor/blender, and let it work for a minute) also add the second half of cheese.

Make a crumb coat for graten with tuna and white beans

Put a few slices of unsalted butter (20 g (0,7 oz)) on top.

Put to the heated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a golden crust.