Pantry Tuna Pasta
Can, capers, garlic, pasta, the dinner for days when the fridge is empty.
- Preparation
- 5 min
- Cook/bake time
- 12 min
- Total
- 17 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
Can, capers, garlic, pasta, the dinner for days when the fridge is empty. Everything here lasts for months in the cupboard, nothing needs to be fresh, and in twelve minutes you have a plate you would also order in a restaurant. The oil from the can is not waste, but the base of the sauce.
Why this works
Canned tuna is already cooked and breaks down into dry fibers with further heat. That is why it is added right at the end and only folded in, never cooked along with it, the difference between juicy pieces and cat food lies exactly in these two minutes. The oil from the can, on the other hand, absolutely belongs in it: It has absorbed flavor from the fish for months and is the most flavorful ingredient of the whole dish. Capers and olives provide salt and glutamate, and together with the pasta water a short, emulsified sauce is created, it is the starch in the cooking water that holds oil and water together, instead of both standing separately in the plate.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Put the pasta on
Cook the spaghetti in well-salted water one minute less than indicated and save a cup of cooking water. The water is not an emergency reserve here, but an ingredient, without the starch dissolved in it there is no sauce.
- 2
Let the garlic steep in the canned oil
Pour the oil from the tuna can into a pan, add the olive oil and let the garlic turn light in it over low heat for two minutes. Over low heat, not high heat: Garlic slices burn quickly and bitterly, and here they should slowly release their aroma to the oil.
- 3
Capers, olives and chili
Add capers, olives and chili flakes and let them steep for a minute. You usually do not need any salt here at all, capers and olives bring enough with them, and that is the reason why the dish manages without fresh ingredients.
- 4
Emulsify, fold in tuna
Add the pasta with half a cup of cooking water to the pan and toss for a minute until the liquid becomes creamy. Only now remove the pan from the heat, fold in the drained tuna in coarse pieces and finish with lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley.
