Every time my 24-year-old daughter, Amanda, stays over in my house in San Pedro, pasta al tonno is the first choice in the menu!
Here in Costa Rica, we commonly call this dish macaroni with tuna fish, or shells with tuna fish or anything similar to pasta and then you add the tuna fish, well, not till recently, I found out that the correct name for this dish was quite much Italian, then I realized that the word "tonno' sounds similar to Dutch "tonijn" and then, of course, tuna!
Follow me step by step in the making of my household famous and kids favorite Pasta al Tonno.
Boil water with a bunch of salt. This is very important and, without breaking the spaghetti, place the entire 450 gr package, very gently in the bowl, with the excess peaking out, it will slowly soften and take its place. Stir for about 5 mins and toss the water, make sure to save a cup of the pasta water.
Lower the heat to 4, add oil, wait till it's hot and add onion and a small, small piece of pepper, not hot at all. I also add a piece of sliced garlic. Fry for 3 mins and add the 3 packages of Natura sauce and the cup of pasta water; stir until it's fully mixed and homogenized. Add a bunch of salt and a less bunch of grounded black pepper, remember this is for my kids, they're not ready for hot food!
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Once the sauce is boiling, remember it's at 4 temperature, it will take time, so be patient, add the entire can of 250 gr in oil (sunflower or olive oil preferably) and keep stirring until the tuna chunks feel not too big nor totally smashed, and wait till it boils again, and then, you add more salt and pepper, you need to season it twice, yeah, twice!
Let it simmer for about 4 mins, at this point you may add a Laurel leaf or anything fresh you want to add to the sauce, and then, add the pasta to the bowl and stir. Leave it rest for 3 mins at 1 and then turn it off. The residual heat will finish up the work by mixing the flavors as well as soften the pasta as it absorbs the flavors.
Nobody wants to get their lips burnt, so take the bowl out of the stove and let it cool down for a while. The way I serve it is, with white rice and red beans, seasoned with onion, salt and pepper and a whole lot of mozzarella cheese on top of it. A lettuce salad with fresh tomato and cucumber, complements the dish.
So here you go, that's my recipe of Pasta al Tonno and why I like it so much, not only because it tastes great with this double seasoned tomato sauce and salty water secret, but it is so much quicker to make than the Bolognese pasta, which is the one with meat balls or grounded meat, which takes an extra step for cooking the meat.
Gentlemen, try it out with your kids, they will love it and you will find yourself as their favorite chef. Go ahead and also try making the sauce with grounded premium beef meat, just make sure to season the meat a leave it resting, in the fridge, covered for about two hours and then, cook it your way! Eet smakelijk!
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