Spaghetti With Olive Oil Poached Tuna In Tomato Fennel Sauce Recipes

SPAGHETTI WITH OLIVE-OIL-POACHED TUNA IN TOMATO-FENNEL SAUCE

Steps:

• FOR THE TUNA
• Add the fennel seeds to a small sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat. (You need toasted fennel seeds for both the tuna and the sauce, so toss 2 tablespoons in the pan now and save a step later!) Toast the fennel seeds, shaking the pan frequently, until they are very aromatic and start to turn a brighter shade of green, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and grind the seeds in a spice grinder or crush with a mortar and pestle.
• Season the tuna belly with salt, red pepper, and half the ground fennel seeds (you're saving the other half for the sauce).
• Preheat the oven to 200°F.
• Put the tuna in a medium ovenproof saucepan and cover with olive oil. Toss in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme bundle. Cover and put in the oven; cook for 1 hour. Remove and let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container.
• FOR THE SAUCE AND PASTA
• Coat a large wide saucepan with olive oil and add the onions and fennel; season with salt and red pepper and bring to medium heat. Cook the veggies until soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, the reserved tablespoon of toasted fennel seeds, and 1 cup water to the pan and season with salt. Bring to a boil (BTB) and reduce to a simmer (RTS); simmer for 30 minutes.
• Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggest. Taste it: It should be toothsome with just a little nugget of hard pasta still in the center-this is al dente.
• Remove the tuna from the olive oil, break it up, and add it to the sauce.
• Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce; stir vigorously to combine. Add a drizzle of big fat finishing oil and serve garnished with fennel fronds.
• YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SAN MARZANO
• San Marzano tomatoes are, as the name suggests, from San Marzano, Italy, outside of Naples. Sweet and delicious, these canned tomatoes are naturally very low in acid. Sometimes you'll notice people add a pinch of sugar to tomatoes when making sauce-this is not to sweeten the sauce so much as to offset the acid in the tomatoes. When you're using San Marzano tomatoes, this isn't necessary because they're naturally super-sweet and low in acid. However, for this same reason, they need a lot of salt to bring out their best flavor . . . accept it and move on.
• San Marzano tomatoes are perfect for sauce, and they work beautifully with my favorite piece of kitchen equipment: the food mill. It's super-old school but I love using a food mill to purée tomatoes because it lets the seeds slip through, leaving all the big-money stuff up top. Remember, when you put your tomatoes through a food mill, be sure to scrape the pulp off the bottom to get every last bit of tomato-y goodness! This is the stuff that will help thicken the sauce, so you don't want to leave it behind. Got it?

EASY PASTA WITH TUNA AND TOMATO SAUCE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 11 minutes.
• Empty tuna into a bowl and mash with a fork while pasta is cooking. Mix with 2 tablespoons olive oil, basil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.
• Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet and fry the anchovies for 3 minutes. Add capers and garlic; cook, stirring constantly, for an additional 3 minutes. Add tuna mixture and tomatoes; simmer sauce for about 5 minutes.
• Drain pasta and add to the sauce. Mix well. Stir in parsley before serving.

SPAGHETTI WITH TUNA, TOMATOES, AND OLIVES

Steps:

• Combine tomatoes, tuna, olives, parsley, pepper, 3 Tbsp. oil, and 1 tsp. salt in a large bowl.
• Cook spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain and add to tomato mixture. Stir vigorously and add more oil as needed to fully coat. Season with salt.
• Transfer pasta to a serving bowl or platter. Drizzle with lemon juice and serve.

PASTA WITH TUNA, TOMATO, & GREEN OLIVES

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Heat 3 Tbs. of the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderate heat. Add the garlic, chile flakes, and 2 Tbs. of the parsley and sauté briefly to release the fragrance of the seasonings. Add the tomatoes and fennel seed. Bring to a simmer, adjust the heat to maintain the simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and well blended, about 10 minute.
• Stir in the minced tuna and then the olives. Season with salt and remove from the heat while you cook the pasta.
• Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling water. When the pasta is a few minutes away from being finished, return the tomato sauce to moderate heat and add enough of the hot pasta water -- about 2/3 cup -- to thin the sauce to a nice consistency. Keep the sauce warm over low heat.
• When the pasta is about 1 minute shy of al dente, scoop out and set aside 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water and then drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the hot pot and stir in the sauce. Cook together over moderately low heat for about 1 min., stirring and adding some of the reserved pasta water if needed to thin the sauce. Take the skillet off the heat and stir in the remaining 1 Tbs. olive oil. Serve the pasta immediately in warm bowls, garnishing each portion with a little of the remaining parsley.