Spaghetti al Tonno
I’m so excited to share this, for 3 reasons:
- It’s one of my top 5 pasta recipes which, believe me, is a long and hard list to narrow down.
- It’s not something you see very often in America so it’s fun to get to post it, it makes me feel famous.
- It’s all about using things in your cupboard, which means that it’s cheap to make and if you do a weekly shop like I do on Saturday or Sunday, this is the perfect Friday dinner (after you’ve eaten all the fresh foods you bought.) In fact, when Mom and I talked about doing this, one of the main things she told me was that you ate this on Fridays, because on Fridays in Italy you don’t eat meat. I always keep a couple jars of tuna in the cupboard, and I obviously always have pasta, so I can make this even when I’ve opted to re-watch all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer over the weekend instead of grocery shopping.
I’ve tried to make this for my friends a few times, and there has been an overall reluctance. I usually offer it up as one of 2 choices, and without fail they choose the other one. I don’t know if it’s because tuna and pasta bring to mind some kind of mayonnaise-y tuna casserole or if it’s because canned tuna has such a lunchbox rep. Eitherway, you’re missing out if you don’t try this. It really is awesome. Think about it, Mediterranean tuna, preserved in extra virgin olive oil, flaked in big chunks over al-dente spaghetti with bright tomatoes and briny capers. Seriously people, all-aboard the tuna pasta boat, you’re going to have a great time.
A couple notes: the tuna is key here, and must be packed in olive oil. When I find it, I splurge on the really fancy Spanish and Italian brands because they love preserved fish around the Mediterranean. Also, you can leave out the capers if you hate them, they are actually (get ready for this) MY addition to the recipe. Mom doesn’t add capers, but I always thought she did, so I always made it with capers. For the first time EVER, Mom thinks that my way might be “better”. She’ll tell you that it’s “different” but I see it in her eyes, she means “better”. Anyway, capers or no, happy cooking.
SERVINGS
4 Servings
INGREDIENTS
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 2-3 tablespoons of capers (optional)
- 2 small cans or one large jar of good quality tuna, packed in extra virgin olive oil.
- 1 can of whole, peeled Roma or San Marzano tomatoes with no additional flavoring
- 500 g of dried spaghetti
METHOD
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan and add the onion and a generous pinch of salt. Cook the onion over medium heat until translucent and blond in color but not brown.
- Turn the heat up slightly and add the capers, allowing to fry in the oil for about 1 minute.
- Add the tuna and a little of the tuna oil, breaking up the pieces gently with your hands or the back of a wooden spoon, leaving some large chunks. Fully coat the tuna with the onion and capers and let fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the tomatoes to the pan, pulling the tomatoes out one-by-one from the can and crushing them in your hands as you add to the pan. Then add all the juices/ sauce left in the can. Fill the can 3/4 up with water, swirl around and add that to the pan as well. It gets the rest of the tomato out and adds a little extra liquid so the sauce as more room to reduce down. Season with salt to taste.
- Reduce heat to medium, and allow to cook for another 12-15 minutes, or until the sauce is reduced down to tomato-sauce consistency and the tomatoes have darkened slightly and oil pools around the edges. Turn down heat to very low so the sauce can wait for the pasta.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and add spaghetti. Cook until al-dente. Drain (reserving a cup of pasta water just in case) and add the pasta immediately into the saucepan with the sauce. Over medium heat, toss with the sauce, adding a little of the pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed, until it’s silky and fully coated (about 1 minute.)
- Serve immediately, but not topped with Parmesan (because that’s just wrong.)
