Tuna & Tomato Pasta Sauce

Not only is this pasta sauce adult & kid friendly, but it’s a great way to get healthy fish into anyone’s diet! In addition, it can be made almost entirely with pantry staples. Plus it’s quick and simple to prepare – so add this one to your list of good fall back options for weeknight dinners.

The most important thing about this recipe is using the best tuna you can find – that doesn’t mean the most expensive – but the most delicious. Tuna in olive oil tends to be of a higher quality and that is what I prefer to buy and use. No matter what type or style of tuna you decide to use, adjust the seasonings at the end and enjoy a delicious pasta dish!

A note on quantity – this recipe will make about 2 cups of sauce. Feel free to double the recipe and play with ratios, it is a fairly forgiving recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 can of chopped or diced tomatoes (plain, fire roasted, with garlic, etc. anything goes but avoid green chile type additions)
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1/2 t balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 t sugar (optional)
• 1/4 – 1/2 t mixed herbs (mixed italian spices, thyme, herbs de provence, etc.)
• 2/3 can of tuna (preferably tuna in olive oil) drained & flaked
• 2 T cream cheese

1. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium to med-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Saute about 5 minutes until soft.
2. Add all other ingredients except tuna and cream cheese. Cook over medium heat uncovered for about 12 minutes, stirring often.
3. Reduce heat to low, add flaked tuna and heat through.
4. Stir in cream cheese until melted, remove from heat.

This sauce keeps very nicely for a few days in the fridge. I have also frozen it in cubes for the baby with no problem.

Based on a recipe from First Meals by Annabel Karmel.

The other day after a Monday at the office, Brad and I arrived home and remembered – we need to eat dinner! Actually I’d been starving all day so it took no recall for me to remember this event – all I was focused on was what do I have on hand, what will be relatively quick to make, and what sounds fun for this spring Monday?

In the refrigerator I found a package of guanciale – a most amazing piece of cured pork cheek that was in my recent Boccalone box. (More on my Boccalone boxes soon!) We were told when we picked up the meat at Incanto that guanciale was the traditional meat used for spaghetti alla carbonara. And with that promise, I agreed that I would make a batch of carbonara pasta for us – one day.

The fact I must confess is that I generally do not like creamy types of sauces. I’m much more of a fresh and light flavor eater. Plus quite frankly, most cream sauces in the U.S. do a disservice to the concept of Italian cuisine and generally should be avoided – in my opinion! I’ve had cream & egg based sauces in Italy and they certainly brokered none of the complaints I have about them in the states. BUT the point is, I come from a perspective of not really loving heavy, creamy types of pasta dishes and rarely – if ever – concede to create one at home.

Tonight became the chosen evening for a carbonara adventure. Carbonara dishes come together spectacularly easily and when you can use the freshest of local ingredients, you can’t complain about the health detriments (too much). The same day we picked up the guanciale, we picked up a fettuccine from our favorite store that appealed to us. On Saturday at the farmer’s market, I had picked up fresh eggs from my favorite egg supplier. And I had parmesan in the fridge. With those simple ingredients – carbonara was ready to be made!

One note about the guanciale – though I will post much more information about it shortly when I post about Boccalone. Though it would be wildly frowned upon by a purist I am sure, do feel free to use pancetta or bacon in lieu of the guanciale which may be impossible to locate where you live. If however you can secure guanciale – it is worth the effort! We were blown away by the flavors and depth of this simple cured meat.

With those notes, I present to you fettuccine alla carbonara. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Ingredients (for 4 servings):

• 4 oz. of guanciale (or pancetta or bacon)
• 2 eggs, the fresher the better
• 1 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 3/4 – 1 lb. of spaghetti or fettuccine
• freshly ground pepper & salt to taste

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Mince or roughly chop the guanciale – the smaller the chop the smaller the flecks will be in the pasta.
3. Warm a saute pan to medium-high heat. Add the guanciale and saute until nicely browned and just a bit crispy.
4. Meanwhile cook the pasta as directed (usually 5-10 minutes) in the boiling water.
5. Lightly beat the eggs and combine with the cheese.
6. When the pasta has been fully cooked and drained, add the egg & cheese mixture and stir well. Add the cooked meat and combine. Put into serving dishes and pepper well. Add salt sparingly though.
7. Enjoy your authentic (as far as my research shows!) Italian carbonara dish!

I’ve spent a lot of time sorting through my magazines and recipes – trying to get organized! The fall cleaning I suppose. At any rate I stumbled on this recipe and realized I had about a pound of chanterelles in the fridge – perfect timing! This is a lovely light pasta sauce that is very quick and easy to make, but delicious! It would be ideal over freshly made pasta, but for a quick dinner, store bought whole wheat works for me.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 oz. dried porcini mushrooms (I used dried shitakes – but would not recommend that, they were chewy – so stick with porcinis)
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 3 T butter (I use vegan margarine)
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb. chanterelles (or any wild mushrooms), cleaned and thickly sliced
• 3 T. parsley, chopped
• 1/2 package of whole wheat fettuccine
• 1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan

1. Place porcinis in a bowl and soak in the hot water for 30 minutes, or until soft. Drain but reserve the soaking liquid.
2. Meanwhile bring water to a boil and cook fettuccine according to directions.
3. In a large, deep skillet, melt butter with oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until it begins to brown. Add the fresh mushrooms; sprinkle with salt & pepper then cover. Cook until tender, about 6 minutes, stirring often.
4. When fresh mushrooms are tender, add the drained porcinis. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Uncover and saute about 2 minutes longer. Mix in parsley and season with salt & pepper.
5. Add drained noodles & cheese to the mushroom sauce in skillet. Toss over medium heat until the cheese melts and the pasta is well coated. Add reserved mushroom soaking liquid if sauce is too dry.

This pasta dish was delicious! It had a nice spread of flavors and a lot of health benefits in the beans and chard as well. The only time consuming (but not hard!) element in this recipe is preparing the beans. You can do that in advance or used canned (rinse well) if desired. Don’t let the bean prep stop you from enjoying this great dish! Note: there are carrots on the right side of this plate – Brad always loves to eat the boiled stock carrots – these are from the white beans.

Ingredients:

• 1 c dried white beans
• 1/2 onion, peeled and quartered
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2″ chunks
• fresh herbs (3-5 sticks of thyme, rosemary, etc.)
• 1 bay leaf
• ~1 lb. swiss shard, stems removed & torn into bite size pieces (any other greens such as kale or spinach could be used)
• ~1 lb. ground pork or sausage
• 5 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 T fresh rosemary, minced
• 2/3-1 pound of pasta (a sturdy pasta such as penne is good for this)

1. Beans: dried beans cook much more nicely if you can soak them for at least 4 hours. Overnight is even better. Try to plan ahead and do this if possible – your intestines will thank you! Rinse the beans well then put them in a pot with 4 times the amount of water as beans (1:4 ratio). Cover and leave them be.
2. Drain the beans then put them back into the pot. Add the onion, carrot, herbs and bay leaf. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Depending on how long you soaked the beans, and their age, they will cook for about 45 minutes to an hour.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.
4. In a sauté pan, cook the pork, rendering fat and pouring it off. Leave just about 1T of fat in the pan. Add the rosemary and garlic and finish cooking through.
5. Once the beans are soft, turn off the heat and remove the onions, carrots, herbs and bay leaf from the pot. The idea is to leave the beans and about 1-1.5 cups of cooking liquid in the pot. Now smash up about half of the beans with a potato smasher or just pressing them a spoon. Turn the heat back onto high and add the chard leaves. Mix completely then cover to cook the leaves.
6. When the chard is cooked (about 3-5 minutes) combine the pasta, bean mixture, and pork. Mix well, sprinkle with Parmesan, and enjoy!

I don’t often make baked pasta dishes but perhaps that will change now that I’ve tried this ooey-gooey-delicious mess. I based this recipe on one I found in Cooking Light for March 2007. Several substitutions and ratio changes later, and we have Baked Penne with Sausage, Kale, & Buttery Crumb Topping. I liked how this turned out in small indivdual serving dishes, plus I used less pasta than the Cooking Light version so it was creamier as a result. Serve with a salad and you have a perfect dinner – and left overs for lunch! Ingredients:

• ~5 slices whole wheat bread (I use Ezekiel sprouted)
• 2 Italian chicken sausages (you could use pancetta or bacon as a substitution)
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 t. minced garlic
• 1 T. chopped fresh herbs: rosemary, sage, thyme
• 1/4 c. flour
• 2 3/4 c. milk (I use 2%)
• 4-6 c. chopped kale (or spinach…)
• 1/2 lb. ricotta
• 1/2 lb. whole wheat penne pasta
• 1/4 c. melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Boil penne as directed on package, usually ~ 10-12 minutes for whole wheat.
3. Place bread in food processor and whirl until coarse bread crumbs are created. Set aside.
4. While penne is cooking, sauté crumbled sausage, onions, garlic, and herbs until onion is tender and sausage is cooked.
5. Measure 3/4 c. milk and add flour. Stir until smooth. Add to sausage mixture along with remaining 2 cups milk. Bring to a boil stirring constantly, then reduce heat and simmer until it thickens, about 2 minutes.
6. Add kale and cook ~1 more minute.
7. Remove from heat and pour into large bowl. Add cheese and salt & pepper to taste. Mix to combine until cheese is melted and incorporated. Add cooked pasta and mix well.
8. Place mixture in individual serving bowls or one large baking dish. Combine bread crumbs with melted butter then sprinkle evenly over pasta.
9. Bake 6-10 minutes until crumbs are browned and pasta looks set.