Tuna and Caper Pasta

Make Ahead and Storage

Best immediately. Refrigerated for 2 days; loosen with a splash of water and warm gently.

How to Make Tuna and Caper Pasta

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1. Put a large pan of well-salted water on to boil and cook the pasta to 1 minute short of the packet time. Reserve 300 ml of the water before draining.

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2. Drain the tuna over a bowl and keep the oil. Flake the fish into large pieces.

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3. Heat the tuna oil and the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat and cook the garlic and chilli flakes for 45 seconds, until fragrant and pale gold.

   Mark done Start 45 sec timer

4. Add the capers and olives and fry 1 minute, then stir in the tomato purée and cook 90 seconds until it darkens.

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5. Ladle in 150 ml of the pasta water and simmer 2 minutes to make a loose sauce.

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6. Add the drained pasta and toss hard over the heat for a full minute, adding more pasta water as needed, until the sauce turns glossy and coats every strand.

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7. Take off the heat, fold in the tuna, lemon zest, juice and parsley, and season. Fold gently so the tuna stays in pieces rather than shredding.

   Mark done

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Tips for Success

• Tuna in oil, not brine. Brine-packed tuna is drier and the liquid is no use to you.
• Tuna in off the heat, folded not stirred. Cooked further it goes chalky.
• No cheese. This is a southern Italian seafood pasta and Parmigiano fights it.

Some Background

The oil in the tin is the flavour and it is usually poured down the sink. Here it goes into the pan as the cooking fat, carrying everything the tuna gave up to it. The rest is the standard rule for any pasta sauce with no cream in it: starchy pasta water plus fat plus vigorous tossing makes an emulsion that clings, where oil alone slides to the bottom of the bowl and leaves the pasta dry.

Serving Ideas

A green salad · A cold Vermentino · Grilled bread

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Ciabatta, Focaccia di Recco, Garlic Bread.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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