There are dishes that are delicious yet completely underrated – and are cooked silently in large quantities by those who know them. Pasta al tonno is one such dish. You hardly ever see it in restaurants. No fanfare, no surprise ingredient, no story that makes for a good tale. Just a handful of ingredients that, when combined, create something far greater than the sum of its parts. And what’s more, it’s a very healthy dish.
In Italy, like so many things, it is prepared in countless local variations: with or without tomato, with or without capers, sometimes with just oil and garlic, sometimes similar to a sauce puttanesca. What all these variations have in common is tinned tuna. Tuna in its own juice, not in oil – that’s the right choice here.
This is our version:
Alongside the pasta, we use garlic and, for a bit of heat, peperoncino, cherry tomatoes, capers, olives, tinned tuna and parsley. The only other seasoning is salt and pepper. Cheese is completely out of place here.
Peperoncino is crumbled and garlic is finely sliced, then both are gently fried in a little olive oil over a medium-high heat. The garlic must not take on colour.
Next, add finely diced tomatoes, capers and olives (cut to the desired size). The tomatoes should retain their freshness, but also break down to form a chunky sauce. This takes about 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper. Only once the tomato base is to your liking should you add the tuna, which has been flaked with your fingers or a fork. It should be warmed through and blend in flavour-wise, but not cooked. It was already cooked in the tin and would now simply dry out – and that would be the only mistake you could make with this dish.
Finally, add some chopped parsley – we use the stalks as well, as they add freshness and a crunchy texture.
Short pasta – we prefer Pipe Rigate here – is cooked in plenty of salted water and then added to the sauce in the pan, where you toss it and leave it for another 2 – 3 minutes to absorb the flavour. That’s all there is to it.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 2 people) :
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
1 peperoncino
300 g cherry tomatoes
40 g capers
50 g olives
150 g tinned tuna in brine, not in oil
1 bunch of parsley
Salt and black pepper
100 – 120 g dry short pasta (we use: Pipe Rigate)
