Pasta with Tuna Sauce

Name: Pasta with Tuna Sauce
Yield: makes 4 servings
Ingredients: Salt and black pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1 medium onion, roughly chopped; 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, or to taste; 2 tablespoons drained capers; One 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped; 1 pound long pasta, like spaghetti or linguine; One or two 6-ounce cans tuna packed in olive oil; Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish, optional

December 14, 2011

One of those wonderful from-the-pantry pasta dishes that can be prepared in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta. Canned tuna is not only acceptable but necessary; but the ideal tuna here would be that taken from the tuna’s belly, the fattiest part, and cured (preferably by your Sicilian grandmother) in great olive oil. Assuming you don’t have that, buy tuna packed in olive oil from Italy or Spain. (In a serious specialty store, you might find belly tuna—probably labeled ventresca—packed in olive oil. It’s dynamite.) What you’re looking for is dark, soft meat that will flake nicely and add its rich flavor to the sauce.

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