The Pantry Pasta I Rely On After I Have No Time and No Plan

I’ve authored greater than my fair proportion of pantry pasta recipes on this website, however the one I flip to essentially the most is from my outdated colleague and pal Sasha Marx. On an evening when I’m caught in an “oh crap I must feed the children and it is nearly bedtime” second (which is most nights, if I am being sincere), his recipe for pasta al tonno is the one I nearly all the time make. The result’s assured to be extra particular than the effort and time I put into it might recommend.

With simply the fundamentals within the cabinet—a can of tomatoes, some olive oil–packed tuna, garlic, dried spaghetti, pink pepper flakes—it is a breathtaking dish that may be whipped up in minutes. Boil the pasta, fry the garlic till evenly golden, simmer the sauce, flake within the tuna, toss all of it collectively, and executed. The parsley is a pleasant addition, a contact of recent inexperienced taste added proper earlier than serving, but it surely’s optionally available. The pasta is best with it, but it surely’s nonetheless nice with out it.

Ideas for Making the Finest Pasta With Tuna

I solely have a few suggestions. The primary is an often-repeated one: The standard of the substances issues. With so few elements, pasta al tonno solely actually shines when the canned tomatoes are nice ones; when the tuna shouldn’t be your run-of-the-mill dry puck that is greatest combined with mayo for tuna salad (canned ventresca, the stomach, is a splurge, but it surely’s nice right here); and when the spaghetti has that tough texture from bronze-die extrusion and never the slick, plasticky really feel of a budget grocery store stuff.

The second is to take your time. Sure, it is a fast recipe. However let the garlic flip golden slowly, creating its taste and infusing into the oil with out taking over an acrid, over-fried taste. Make sure to pull the pasta a bit of early from the water and end it within the sauce so it is coated in a slick, tomatoey glaze. All instructed, it is an additional two or three minutes, insignificant within the scheme of issues, however important within the execution of the dish.

The result’s a scrumptious, shiny, and fruity tomato sauce, studded with substantial morsels of tuna and a lightweight marine taste that may even make a Tuesday night time style such as you’re on the Italian Riviera.

June, 2025