The killers that I do when I have no time and no plan

I have the author more than my just part of patenting pasta recipes on this site, but the one I turn the most is my former colleague and friend Sasha Marx. A night when I am taken in a moment “Oh shit, I need to feed the children and it’s almost bedtime” (which is most of the nights, if I am honest), its recipe for Al Tonno pasta is the one I almost always make. The result is guaranteed to be more special than the time and the efforts I suggest to it.

With just the basics in the cupboard – a box of tomatoes, olive oil tuna – a tuna, garlic, dried spaghetti, red pepper flakes – it is a breathtaking dish that can be whipped in a few minutes. Boil the pasta, fry the garlic until it is slightly golden, simmer the sauce, flakes in the tuna, mix everything and do. The parsley is a nice addition, a touch of fresh green flavor added just before serving, but it is optional. The pasta is better with that, but it’s always great without that.

Tips for making the best pasta with tuna

I only have a few advice. The first is often repeated: the quality of the ingredients is important. With so few components, the Al Tonno pasta only really shine when the canned tomatoes are large; When the tuna is not your banal dry washer which is better mixed with mayonnaise for tuna salad (the canned fan, the belly, is a madness, but it’s great here); And when spaghetti have this rough texture from the extrusion of bronze die and not smooth sensation and plasticky cheap supermarket stuff.

The second is to take your time. Yes, it’s a quick recipe. But let the garlic become golden slowly, developing its flavor and infusing the oil without taking a acrid and too fried flavor. Make sure to pull the pasta early from the water and finish it in the sauce so that it is coated with a smooth and tomato frosting. All in all, it is two or three additional minutes, insignificant in the scheme of things, but critical in the execution of the dish.

The result is a delicious, shiny and fruity tomato sauce, dotted with tuna pieces and a light marine flavor that can even give a Tuesday evening taste as if you were on the Italian Riviera.