Spaghetti al Tonno

 

As has been my tradition since I started cooking, I try and make sure that Sunday dinners are something special. But after all the work and fanfare, I find that I don't want to make a lot of effort prepping Monday night's dinner. So I usually opt for a "cupboard meal"...something I can quickly put together from items in my pantry...no shopping needed.

Spaghetti al Tonno has become a favorite Monday night pantry meal for Becky and I. When I first started making it, it was a simple 3-ingredient meal...spaghetti, olive oil and canned tuna. As my tastes have evolved over the years, I added some more ingredients to enhance the flavor. But truth be told...you can ignore the other ingredients I've listed and just go back to the original 3 ingredients.

The foundation of this dish is high quality, canned tuna packed in olive oil. Don't even think of using tuna packed in water. Cento is one of my favorite brands and is available at most grocery stores. I buy mine in bulk from Amazon, where a case of 12 runs $44. While it is sold in both 3 and 5 ounce sizes, I recommend the 5 ounce size, as that is the perfect amount for an individual serving. I always have garlic olive oil on hand, but if you don't, just press a small clove of garlic and add it to a tablespoon of olive oil. The recipe below serves 2 people, so you can easily scale it up or down as needed.

INGREDIENTS
8 ounces of spaghetti

2, 5-ounce cans of tuna packed in olive oil

1 tablespoon garlic olive oil

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes 

Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pot of boiling, lightly salted water, add the spaghetti and cook to al dente.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, warm the tuna in a medium pan over medium-low heat.
3. When ready, drain the spaghetti and then toss the noodles with the garlic olive oil. Add Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes, tossing to mix thoroughly.
4. Divide the spaghetti between 2 serving plates and top each with 5-ounces of warm tuna. Serve and pass the parmesan.

Wine pairing: Petite Sirah