Pasta With Tuna and Olives
- Total Time
- About 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 16½-ounce can water-packed light (not albacore) tuna, drained
- 1 to 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (to taste)
- 1garlic clove, minced
- 1cup fresh tomato sauce or a good prepared marinara sauce
- 2tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley or slivered fresh basil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- ¼ to ½teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (optional)
- ½cup pitted imported black olives, such as kalamatas, cut in half or into quarters lengthwise
- ¾pound fusilli, penne, farfalle, or spaghetti
- Freshly grated Parmesan for serving (optional)
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
507 calories; 13 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 70 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 25 grams protein; 615 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Begin heating a large pot of water for the pasta. In a large pasta bowl, break up the tuna. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan or saucepan over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook, stirring, just until fragrant, and remove from the heat. Add to the tuna. Add the parsley or basil, and mix together.
- Step 2
Add the tomato sauce to the pan, heat through and season to taste with salt and add pepper and the red pepper flakes if using. Stir in the olives.
- Step 3
When the water for the pasta comes to a boil, add a generous tablespoon of salt and the pasta. Cook al dente, until firm to the bite, following the cooking instructions on the package but checking the pasta a minute or two before the indicated time. Remove 2 tablespoons of the cooking water and mix with the tuna.
- Step 4
When the pasta is al dente, drain and transfer to the bowl with the tuna. Add the tomato sauce with the olives, toss everything together, and serve. Pass the Parmesan at the table.
Private Notes
Comments
My mother often made this dish on Christmas Eve. She mashed several flat anchovies with some of their oil in a hot pan, and then more of less proceeded as directed here. She also used imported Italian tuna but cooked it briefly in the sauce. Like most Italians, she did not use cheese with fish.
I've been making Tonno e Pomodoro all my life. It is wonderful cold standing before an open refrigerator while no one is watching. At 3am. The quality of the tuna is vital to the success of this dish. Mediterranean packed tuna in oil is all I have ever used. Good food rests on the quality of its few ingredients. Capers are nice. A squeeze of fresh lemon to finish brightens. Anchovies? Meh. Remember that tuna fisheries are collapsing worldwide. It is encumbent upon us to choose wisely.
Made as directed it needed more flavor--next time I will add anchovies to the garlic and oil. I also added a bag of spincach--half to the last minute of cooking the pasta and the other half mixed with the garlic and oil and then through the hot pasta on top.
The most unhelpful thing in these comments are all the "NO CHEESE!!!" hysterics. Some people like cheese in seafood dishes, many don't -- but it is simply idiotic and pigheaded to pretend that there's some kind of universal law against it.
Excellent! Used Tonnino Tuna Fillets in water. Made full recipe of Julia Moskin's Classic Marinara Sauce (NYT), froze the remainder. Per other's comments, added anchovy paste. Also, for some veggies, added blanched chopped broccolini. Note: if you want pasta more tomatoey you'll need more than 1 cup.
Very good. Uses two small cans of tuna in evoo, lightly drained. Sauted some minced red onion and baby spinach along with the garlic and sauce. Adding pasta water brought it all together. Cooked a 12 oz box of pasta, but I thought it was too much pasta for the amount of sauce, so saved some pasta for another use.