Pasta with Tuna and Tomato Sauce

Name: Pasta with Tuna and Tomato Sauce (Easy Canned Tuna Pasta)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Tuna in oil (150-160 g) 1 can; Large ripe tomatoes 2; Onion 1; Garlic 1-2 cloves; Fresh basil 2-3 sprigs; Olive oil 3 tbsp; Salt, black pepper to taste; Sugar (optional) 0.5 tsp (2 g); Hot chili pepper (optional) 1; Pasta (fettuccine, spaghetti) 160 g; Water for cooking the pasta 1.6 l; Salt for the pasta water 7 g per 1 l of water

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30 mins

For historical reasons tuna has never been especially popular in our part of the world: it is not found in local waters and is rarely seen in shops. Canned tuna, however, is sold in almost every store. And one small jar of fish fillet in oil can be the base of a delicious dish. Pasta with tuna is simple and quick, and you can even make it for breakfast in under half an hour.

Canned tuna looks and feels like flaky chicken fillet, with no noticeable bones. Always check the label: buy tuna in chunks, not “for salad”, which means small pieces, probably leftovers from processing. Still, that kind of canned fillet makes an excellent tuna pizza and the taste is incredible, especially with fresh tomatoes.

The dark meat of tuna, from the sides of the fish, goes into cheap dog and cat food, while we buy cans made of white meat from the back of the fish. That said, unscrupulous producers often can anything at all, and not even tuna. But if the piece of fish fillet in the can has a dense structure and separates into thick layers, it is most likely tuna.

Pasta with tuna and tomatoes is in fact an everyday breakfast dish. A small can of tuna fillet, a few tomatoes and sprigs of fresh basil, and that is really all. Or, if you have time, you can combine canned tuna with vegetables, herbs and other ingredients to make a tasty tuna salad. In fact, you can make many different salads with canned tuna, as the fish goes with almost any vegetable.

You can make this pasta with any shape, although I prefer long pasta. Thick sauces such as Bolognese and carbonara go very well with long pasta. But it is up to you: you can make spaghetti with tuna or a short pasta with tuna, such as fusilli, penne and so on. Also, for the sauce it is better to use fresh tomatoes rather than canned pulp.

12 ingredientsTo the recipe

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Ingredients

2 servings

For the sauce
Tuna in oil (150-160 g) 1 can
Large ripe tomatoes 2
Onion 1
Garlic 1-2 cloves
Fresh basil 2-3 sprigs
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Salt, black pepper to taste
Sugar (optional) 0.5 tsp
(2 g)
Hot chili pepper (optional) 1
For the pasta
Pasta (fettuccine, spaghetti) 160 g
Water for cooking the pasta 1.6 l
Salt for the pasta water 7 g per 1 l of water

Step-by-step recipe

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Tomato puree

To make pasta with tomatoes and tuna taste good, buy a can of tuna in oil, with the fillet in one large piece. If the tuna turns out to be good quality, you will usually keep buying that kind. Large ripe tomatoes, preferably with few seeds and as fresh as possible, fresh green basil, and the pasta sauce will be wonderful. For a light flavoring of the olive oil you will need 1-2 garlic cloves.
Put the ripe tomatoes in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
After 2-3 minutes, cool the tomatoes under cold running water and remove the seeds and the outer skin, which looks like a film.
Blend the tomato flesh into a puree, which is the base of the tomato sauce.

Tuna sauce

Peel the garlic cloves and crush them with the flat of a knife.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Fry the garlic until lightly browned, 1-2 minutes, then discard it. Its job is to flavor the olive oil.
Peel the onion and cut it into thin strips.
Fry the onion in olive oil until soft, 4-5 minutes over medium heat. There is no need to brown it. It is enough for the onion to become soft and take on a little of the oil.
Drain the oil from the can of tuna.
Some people wondered why drain the oil when you could fry the onion in it. I did not do that. The oil contains spices and water from the fish fillet, which can splatter, and small bits of tuna that start to “burn” very quickly in hot oil, so the dish would have a taste of overcooked fish.
Roughly break up the tuna fillet, separating the layers of fish into small pieces. Do not mash it with a fork or you will get a mush.
Add the tuna fillet to the saucepan with the fried onion, stir and fry for 1 minute.
Add all the prepared tomato puree to the tuna, add a little salt and season with black pepper.
By the way, and this is optional, tomato sauces are very tasty with a little sugar and hot pepper. To make the dish especially fragrant and delicious, for this amount of tomato you can add 0.5 tsp of sugar (2 g) and a finely chopped hot pepper, with the seeds and white membranes removed.
Stir the tuna fillet into the tomato and bring the sauce to a boil.
Cover the saucepan and reduce the heat to the minimum. Simmer the tuna and tomato sauce for 7-8 minutes. The sauce is cooked without added water, so it ends up thick and there is no need to reduce it further. The sauce will be smooth and brightly colored, with visible pieces of tuna fillet and fried onion.

Pasta and serving

While the sauce simmers, boil your chosen pasta in plenty of salted water until done: for 160 g of pasta, 1.6 l of water and 7 g of salt per liter. The cooking time is on the package, and the manufacturer guarantees al dente within that time.
Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and transfer it to a bowl. Keep a little of the pasta water, as it may come in handy for the sauce.
In the bowl, combine the cooked pasta and all of the tuna and tomato sauce. Toss gently so the sauce spreads evenly. The sauce may turn out too thick. In that case, add a little of the pasta water. But I think you will not need it.
Pick the leaves off the basil sprigs and drop a handful into the bowl. Leave a few small leaves for garnishing the finished dish. Gently toss the pasta with tuna once more.
Put the pasta with tuna sauce on plates. Garnish with the reserved basil leaves and, if you like, add more pepper. Serve before the pasta cools down, as it is best hot.
If you can, make homemade fettuccine from durum wheat flour, following the principle described in the homemade noodles recipe. Pasta with tuna and tomatoes will be even tastier.