• Yield: 4 servings

  • Time: 10 min prep, 15 min cooking, 5 min total


Don't have a clue what to fix for dinner tonight? This dish is always a great solution to that problem. The tomatoes and parsley are the only fresh ingredients you need; everything else is probably in your fridge or pantry. For a splurge, use Spanish tuna in olive oil; for a bargain, try Genova brand, also in olive oil but half the price.

Ingredients

  • Kosher salt

  • 1 lb/455 g angel hair pasta

  • 2 1/2 cups/600 ml Flash-Sautéed Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce, heated

  • Two 6-oz/170-g cans good-quality tuna packed in oil, drained and flaked

  • 1/2 cup/55 g pitted green olives such as Lucques or Castelvetrano

  • 1 tbsp rinsed capers

  • 1/4 cup/10 g chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, or other fresh herbs as you like

Instructions

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta, stir, and cook until just shy of al dente (about 1 minute less than the package instructions). Just before the pasta is ready, scoop out about ½ cup/120 ml of the cooking water and set aside. Drain the pasta.

Return the pasta to the pot over medium heat. Add the tomato sauce and toss to coat evenly. Fold in the tuna, olives, and capers, and then fold in a few spoonfuls of reserved pasta water to create a nice saucy consistency.

Divide the pasta among warmed pasta bowls and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve right away.


Modern Sauces, 150 Recipes for Every Cook, Every Day by Martha Holmberg. Chronicle Books 2012.

Martha Holmberg is the former publisher and editor of Fine Cooking, founding editor of MIX and former food editor of the Oregonian. She is the author of Puff, a James Beard award-nominated cookbook, and Crepes.