The southern Italian version: tuna in olive oil, garlic, chilli, tomatoes. No cream, no cheese. Takes about as long as the pasta does.

Ingredients

  • 200 g spaghetti
  • 150 g tuna in olive oil, drained (the jarred stuff, it matters)
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 1 dried chilli, crumbled
  • 250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • handful parsley, chopped
  • salt

Instructions

  1. Put a big pot of salted water on to boil. Salt it properly.
  2. Warm the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic and chilli and let them go gently for 2 minutes, until the garlic smells sweet but hasn’t browned.
  3. Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Cook 8-10 minutes, pressing them with a spoon until they collapse into a rough sauce.
  4. Start the pasta now. Cook it 1 minute short of the box time.
  5. Break the tuna into the sauce in big flakes. Turn the heat to low and warm it through for 2 minutes. Don’t stir it to mush.
  6. Move the pasta straight into the pan with a splash of pasta water. Toss hard over medium heat for a minute so the sauce grips.
  7. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and a last drizzle of olive oil. Serve immediately.

Notes

  • No parmesan. Fish and cheese don’t go together here.
  • A tablespoon of capers or a few chopped olives in step 3 is fair game.
  • Out of tomatoes: skip them, double the olive oil and parsley, add lemon zest. That’s the bianco version.

kinda just looks like any pasta, i like that it’s almost instant to cook