In college I had a classmate from Italy and one day when we were working on a group project she made this quick dish of pastas in a tuna and tomato sauce; it reminded me a lot of the quick pastas I used to make for my friends in high school. I make this pasta dish on those days that I need to cook something that is easy, fast and that the whole family will eat or when I almost out of groceries. I am a little bit picky about the type of canned tuna I use (probably because I grew up in a country that has very good quality canned tuna). I prefer to kind that is packed in olive oil (instead of water), and it seems almost impossible to find canned tuna packed in olive oil at the regular grocery stores, fortunately I found it at Trader Joe’s (I love that store), you can also find it a Whole Foods or other specialty store but the price is higher.
I usually use fresh tomatoes for this pasta dish, but you can also use a can of diced tomatoes instead. If you want to upgrade this dish (and have a higher budget) you can make it using fresh tuna as well as fresh herbs and some grated parmesan cheese.
Ingredients:
2 cans tuna fish
½ white onion, diced
4 tomatoes, diced
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs dried herbs such as oregano or basil (replace with fresh herbs if available)
Salt to taste
1lb pastas, cooked according to package instructions
Preparation:
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan.
Add the onions and tomatoes, cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until soft.
Add the tuna fish, mix well and add fresh or dried herbs.
Stir in the cooked pastas and serve.
Other recipes:
This is even better if you add hot red pepper flakes at the end, or a couple cloves of fresh minced garlic with the onion, or both! Red wine in the sauce is yummy as well.
A delicious pasta dish! yummy!
Cheers,
Rosa
yep, ditto on the crushed red pepper flakes and garlic. i add them in the pan first, then onion, then tomatoes. arugula goes wonderfully too! this is one of my favorite pasta dishes– so good!
I love those quick, delish pastas. Thanks!
Yum!
Paz
thats a super quick pasta to make..yumm!!
That looks so elegant for canned tuna! I’ll have to try it, our family loves pasta with light sauces.
I did it today. my family loved it. It’s easy, tasty and good !
Thanks so much.
So simple, so good…thanks:)
Love the quick light pastas. Very good with whole wheat bow ties for a even healthier meal. Thanks:]
I used whole wheat farfalle as well. I found it to be even more delicious as a cold pasta.
This was really good. I’m at a friends house and he had nothing to eat in the house except a few oddities… so I typed in tuna and tomatoes and found this recipe. I used whole wheat penne and added red peppers and minced garlic. Not only was it surprisingly good but it scored me major points : )
I will be using this in the future!
This is really great.
I am on frugal eating, and a can of tuna, a can of tomatoes, a bag of dried Italian herbs,a hunk of paremesan, and a bunch of fresh parsley was all that I had, and I made an amazing meal. Just a couple of points. I used a can of tuna in water. Dont put the water in. And add some grated paremesan at the very end. FInally it tasted great with some fresh parsely. Saved me 20 euros in a nice restaurant here in Paris.
Cheers
Oh my goodness. I think I am in love with this site..
Hey do you know you can do this with yellow rice but just add cumin to the tuna while frying, it is delicious, my mom is from ecuador and she taught me this.