Breton Tuna and White Bean Gratin Recipe (2024)

As described, this is a four pot recipe: skillet, bowl, food processor, gratin dish. Use a cast iron frypan & roughly mash the beans with a potato masher in the pan. Take off heat before adding the tuna, chile and cheese. Bake in the frypan. Save time, energy and water by cutting out most of the washing up.

Pureed half the beans and skimped a little on the milk a bit to make it a bit more stick-to-you-ribs. Double the tuna if you use the 5.75-oz cans (use oil from one, not both) for a heartier autumn dish on a cloudy, cold day (here in Sweden we have a few). I used regular breadcrumbs, so I assume panko would have been better. Also added canned mushrooms and peas for a little roughage. NO butter on top. I liked this one a lot.

The version in the Telegraph includes the oil from the tuna.

Drain oil from tuna? Help! I would drain it moderately for any other recipe, not so much as to press the tuna dry.

I haven't eaten cat food, so wouldn't know. Top grade tuna with beans, olio, savory alium seasonings, cream and gruyere....that won't equal catfood in my book.

Yummo! Can be dressed up (add a dash of worcestershire sauce or white wine) or down (skip the cream & chile). The only thing I disagree with in this recipe is all the scraping into this or that bowl or skillet. I just add everything to the same skillet, one by one, cook then plunk in the casserole dish. First thing in is the chile to season the oil. Later, the beans smush up pretty easily on their own; no need for the food processor. And the tuna goes into the same skillet too. Yumm.

This was very good. I used one jar of the Tonini tuna (6.7 oz), most of the liquid from one can of Great Northern beans, 3 Tbs of half&half and Jarlsberg cheese. I also included the olive oil from the tuna (~ 2 Tbs). Instead of dragging out the food processor, I just smushed half of the bean mixture with a potato masher. The texture was great - not soupy at all. Tasty, hearty and quick for a weeknight dinner.

Looks and tastes like cat food.

There is an excellent tuna in olive oil from Italy, brand is, I think, Tonino, 7 oz. in a glass jar. Pricey, though. But the best, in my opinion, for salads such as Nicoise.

So this is a crazy thought, but how would this be on a party buffet, in place of a hot dip?

I used two 5 oz. cans of tuna, undrained -- the olive oil-packed tuna didn't have much liquid. Used Great Northern beans for the white beans. Next time I would drain both cans of beans -- the dish was a little soupier than I would like. But delicious nevertheless.

We loved this. I used one can of beans and one can of tuna to serve two people. We had some left over and it reheated nicely. I didn’t have Gruyere and used grated cheddar. I did not do the food processor step, just kept the beans whole. It was a lot less to clean up because I could mix everything in the skillet.

Nice rustic dish with modifications. Only roughly mashed one can of beans. Left the other can unstrained and not mashed. A ten oz. jar of good Italian tuna worked nicely. Doubled the cheese. Sprinkled the breadcrumbs wit a pinch of thyme. Going to eat leftovers with flatbread brushed wit za’atar and olive oil.

I followed the chefs' notes here and am very surprised and delighted by this dish. I was sort of dreading it, but mashing half the beans (and draining one can of the two) gave a hearty texture. I used three 5oz cans of yellowfin tuna in oil and drained some of the oil off each one. I also added 10oz of mushrooms. The end product is warm and rich, aromatic from the garlic and onions, a real treat for a cold winter evening. I would make this again, it's so unique!

This would function very well as a hot dip smeared on slices of toasted baguette. I made Melissa Clark's Instant Pot Garlicky Beans the day before and used some leftover beans for this recipe. It was SO GOOD! I think it needs more cheese than 1/4 cup though, so will add more next time. And I will also try only pureeing half the beans for a less dip-like consistency.

I dressed this up a bit. I used my Le Creuset braiser, added anchovies, sherry, dill, and lemon pepper. I had asparagus on hand, so I chopped up 1 inch pieces and threw it in. I think haricots verts would be even better. I didn’t have gruyere and used Jarlsberg, but I think gruyère would be better.

This was very tasty. I had some left over tuna steak from the night before, so used than in place of canned tuna. I added some thinly diced celery, lemon zest and juice as well as some fresh grated horseradish for a bit more flavor. I didn’t have parsley on hand so used basil. As other reviewers noted, I didn’t need to purée the beans. I had overcooked my dried white beans a bit-they cooked up nicely. Will make this one again!

Loved this, skipped the food processor as others recommended and used a potato masher. Thus a somewhat fussy recipe became a true pantry meal. Made half the recipe and used one can of cannellini beans plus one can of tuna, and those proportions seemed just right to me. Good flavor, a keeper.

Medical resident hoping to do a lot of meal prepping, here.Does this recipe freeze well?

I followed the advice of other readers and mashed only half the beans. Did everything else as written. It was a nice dish but not groundbreaking. I think that it needs more than just parsley on top to add freshness and/or a hint of acidity. Next time I may add lemon juice or olives as suggested, I also like the idea of tarragon, marinated artichokes, or white wine.

As others have said, try to blend/ mash half the beans otherwise this is like a dip. It was good but I was not crazy about the consistency. It was excellent with a piece of toast as the description suggests.

I typically try to make something as written the first time out but I don’t think I am capable of using only 1/4c of cheese for anything, much less a gratin. So tripled that; at least. Since I strayed I chose to use all cream and mash half the beans rather than purée. Had an 8oz jar of tuna in oil from Portugal - better than Tonino. Made fresh bread crumbs from a garlic stick (Portuguese again.) Delicious and so easy. In the rotation.

If you don’t have a food processor you can mash it up by hand with a pastry tool or a metal potato masher (plastic doesn’t cut it).

To make it high protein-lower carbs, Doubled the tuna and used only one can of beans (with the liquid), added in herbs such as chives and tarragon handful of sliced green olives and served with parsley and lemon.

I didn’t have parsley so I stirred about a tablespoon of chopped capers in with the tuna, and I would do it again. I also used the cast-iron skillet method with a potato masher, and Parmesan instead of Gruyère. Both worked well.

I have my mom’s tuna casserole (macaroni, Campbell’s Cream of Celery soup) which is my comfort-food go-to. This reminds me of it but in a wonderfully new, elevated way! Like not having any pasta and using the beans for substance. Didn’t purée, just squished some w/ back of spoon and enjoyed the textural contrast. Added 3 jars of amazing tuna (1 w/ oil, the rest w/ spring water). Used some of the tuna water in the mix. No butter as the Gruyère was rich enough. Served w steamed peas. DELICIOUS!!!

Loved the taste but how do you plate this without shocking people

I mashed some of the beans in the pan and I also added a bunch of veggies - frozen spinach, 1/2 a can of artichoke hearts, some frozen peas. I think the recipe is a good starting point for whatever else you want to throw in there to make it more interesting. I also added the juice of half of a lemon to perk it up a bit.

the end result was a bit soupy ... even though I used 2 cans of drained tuna. I'd try this again ... but next time will drain both cans of beans before mixing with the other ingredients.

I was sure that we would love this because one of our staples is a classic Italian white bean and tuna salad. This dish was just heavy and one note. I weighed all the ingredients so I am sure I followed the recipe correctly, but it was just blah.