Spaghetti Puttanesca with Tuna
Inspired by techniques from NYT Cooking, Serious Eats and America's Test Kitchen.
This follows the classic spaghetti puttanesca method, but uses fewer anchovies, adds shallot and fried tomato purée to the base, and folds in flaked tinned tuna off the heat at the end.
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Method
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Equipment
- large frying pan or sauté pan (30 cm)
- large pot (at least 5 litres)
- colander or tongs
- heatproof mug for pasta water
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 631 kcal |
| Protein | 31 g |
| Carbohydrate | 86.5 g |
| of which sugars | 9.1 g |
| of which free sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| of which saturates | 2.9 g |
| Fibre | 8 g |
| Salt | 2.48 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
4.9 g High Protein needs ≥ 10 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
Metric · 4 servings
Pasta
- 400 g dried spaghetti or linguine
Pasta water
- 15 g fine salt for 3 litres of pasta water (0.5%) about 2½ tsp; most of it goes down the drain
Sauce
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
- 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
- 3 anchovy fillets in oil, chopped
- 1 tbsp capers, rinsed
- 50 g pitted black olives, halved
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 2 tbsp tomato purée (paste)
- 800 g tinned whole plum tomatoes (2 tins), crushed by hand
- 200 g tinned tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked
To finish
- 3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1
Boil the pasta water. Bring 3 litres of water to the boil with only the 15 g of salt, since the anchovies, capers, olives and tuna all bring their own saltiness. Keep it at a simmer, covered, until the sauce is under way; the pasta goes in during step 4.
- 2
Build the base. Put the oil, garlic, shallot, anchovies, capers, olives and chilli flakes into the cold pan and bring to a sizzle over medium-high heat. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for 5-6 minutes, until the shallot has softened and the garlic is lightly golden.
- 3
Fry the tomato purée. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring often, until it darkens slightly. Frying the purée directly in the hot oil caramelises its sugars, giving the sauce a deeper flavour than if it were added straight into the liquid.
- 4
Simmer the sauce. Add the crushed tomatoes and simmer gently for 15 minutes, breaking up the larger pieces with a spoon as they soften. You're after a thick, chunky sauce that clings to the pasta rather than a thin one that runs off it. When the sauce has about 10 minutes left, bring the water back to a rolling boil, add the spaghetti or linguine, stir during the first minute, and cook for 2 minutes less than the packet time.
- 5
Drain the pasta. Reserve 240 ml of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
- 6
Toss the pasta in the sauce. Add the drained pasta and 60 ml of the reserved water to the sauce and toss over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, until the pasta is al dente and well coated. Add a little more water if the sauce gets too thick.
- 7
Fold in the tuna and serve. Take the pan off the heat, then gently fold in the flaked tuna, in large pieces, and the parsley. Adding the tuna off the heat at the very end keeps it moist instead of dry and stringy. Taste before adding any extra salt, as the sauce is already well seasoned, then serve straight away.
Storage
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat gently in a pan with a splash of water, stirring, until piping hot throughout (74°C); freezing isn't recommended as the tuna's texture suffers on thawing. Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
