It's a balmy Sunday evening and my sister is due home tomorrow as she is currently in hospital with the arrival of our family's first bambino.
I couldn't help myself. It's like instinct takes over. How can I help I ask myself, as I glance over and discover my favourite brand of tuna and pasta in her pantry (originally put there by me). This would have to be helpful, right? Coming home, and finding a ready made, relatively nutritious meal just waiting to be reheated.
It's almost embarrassing that I didn't go to more effort, and that I am actually posting this recipe. But, once again the best things really don't need to be complicated. Stick to good quality ingredients, such as: Italian tuna in olive oil, fresh mozzarella, basil and good quality pasta. Combined with the correct cooking times, and you have a winning simple dish.
This `pasta al forno`, is basically an Italian version of a tuna bake. I am not typically a pasta bake kind of person, but it is perfect for the purpose of making something in advance. My instincts would also lean towards using penne pasta, however I used casarecce in this, as I took advantage of what was in the pantry.
It is a written rule in Italy that any form of cheese should never be mixed or topped on seafood. However, when it is canned tuna the rule can be bent a little, and fresh mozzarella is permitted to be added.
Bake this, and I'm sure that you will agree. This is the perfect summer meal, bursting with classic Italian flavours!
What you need:
700 ml of Italian tomato passata. Homemade is even better.
500gm pasta. I used casarecce from Garofalo
2 x 160g Italian tuna in olive oil. I used Delicious
250g fresh mozzarella
handful of fresh basil leaves
4-5 cloves of organic garlic
good splash of extra virgin olive oil
Sicilian sea salt
How to make:
1: Boil water in a large pot. Add a good amount of salt to the pot. Add the pasta and stir well. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. If it suggests 12 minute cooking time, drain the pasta at 10 minuets. As it will continue to cook when baked in the oven, you do not want soggy pasta. Drain the pasta and set aside.
2: Lightly smash the whole olive cloves and add to the olive oil. Cook over a light heat, this will infuse the oil with the favour of the garlic. Remove the whole gloves.
3: Drain slightly the oil from the tuna and add to the pan. Add also a handful of basil leaves. Stir well until it has heated through.
4: Add the tomato passata, salt to taste. Summer for 20 minutes.
5: Add the pasta to the sauce, and stir through to make sure the pasta is coated evenly. Chop the mozzarella into large chunks, and add the chunks to the pasta mix. Lightly stir through.
6: Add the pasta to a large baking tray, typically used for lasagne. Keep in the fridge or bake immediately. Bake for 20 minutes.
#pasta #tonno #tuna #tunabake