You should always keep cans of tuna in your pantry because you never know when you can use it. Finding new ways to incorporate tuna into pasta may surprise you on just how delicious of a dish you can create. Canned tuna doesn’t need to be cooked, so if you are adding it to the hot pan, make sure you are adding it at the end to just warm the tuna. Overcooking tuna can dry it out. You can experiment with ingredients like capers, fresh herbs, tomatoes, zucchini, and much more. Pasta tonno is meant to be a quick and light dish. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of tuna in olive oil

• 1 lemon, zest and juice

• 1 clove of garlic

• Salt and pepper

• 1 lb. pasta

• Olive oil

• Red chili pepper, diced (or red pepper flakes)

• Salt

• Fresh parsley, chopped

• Fresh basil, sliced

Instructions:

1. Start boiling a pot of water for the pasta. Then, place a large pan (big enough to hold the pasta once it’s done cooking) and place it on the stove. You don’t need to put it over heat until you drop the pasta in.

2. In the meantime, make sure your red chili pepper, basil and parsley is prepped. Peel and smash the clove of garlic. Set all aside.

3. In a small mixing bowl, add the tuna (with oil), sliced basil, zest of one lemon, and  juice of one lemon. Set aside.

4. Drop the pasta in and cook until al dente (a little under, with a bite, it will finish cooking in the pan at the end).

5. In the meantime, heat the large pan over low heat. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan, add the whole clove of garlic and diced peppers (or flakes). Keep the heat low, you don’t want to burn the garlic, just heat enough to get the flavors of the garlic and pepper to infuse into the oil, just a couple minutes. Then add the tuna mixture to the pan to lightly heat as you stir it into the pan, let sit. 

6. Once the pasta is ready to drain, first add a ladle (about ⅓ cup) of the starchy pasta water to the pan. Turn heat to medium.

7. Drain the pasta, then add to the large pan. Add a handful of fresh parsley (or save to garnish at the end). Toss pasta continuously and quickly as the starchy water thickens into a creamy like sauce, about a minute, then turn off heat and serve immediately.

We’d love to see your finished product! Post your picture on Instagram, tag us @danimade.kitchen and hashtag it #danimade