This is one of my favorite dishes that I make all the time: Zucchini and Tuna Pasta. The other day I showed how to make it on Instagram, and I got so many requests for the recipe. I can’t believe I’ve never written it up! Now seems the perfect time since it’s the perfect pasta to add to your lockdown menu plan for a few reasons:
- It’s one-dish (both vegetables and pasta in one bowl) so easy
- It’s a great way to make not-so-great vegetables taste better (old zucchini? Frozen?)
- It’s a great way to use up a small amount of vegetables that may not be enough for another dish
- And finally what else are you going to do with all that Tuna you bought way too much of last week?
If you’re thinking ‘Hey, it’s not zucchini season yet’ I have to say that even I was surprised to find zucchini at our market last week. Even though it’s no where near summer, they were local (we are in Umbria) and the farmer told me that she grows them in her hothouse. And they were fantastic. But if you can’t get your hands on zucchini quite yet, the pasta works just as well with both broccoli and cauliflower.
You can use any shape pasta, but I tend to like the short shapes (rigatoni, penne, etc) rather than long spaghetti or linguine. And it’s one of the few dishes where I don’t mind using whole wheat pasta.
If you don’t like tuna, you can also use canned sardines (although if you don’t like tuna chances are you really hate sardines. ) And if you want a vegetarian or vegan version of this, then use a cup of cooked lentils or beans instead of the tuna. It’s not the same of course, but it’s still good!Or you could even use a cup of ricotta instead of the tuna. But in this case I’d leave out the lemon juice, and maybe add a 1/4 cup of grated parmigiano.
And while we are talking about tuna, please use oil packed tuna, not water-packed. It just tastes soooo much better. And if you can get it, olive oil packed is the way to go.
The trick to this pasta is cooking the vegetables with the pasta in the cooking water. The timing is a bit fiddly, but basically you want the pasta a bit al dente, while the vegetables should be fully cooked and soft. I usually add vegetables to the water about 5-7 minutes after the pasta, depending on both the type of pasta and the type of vegetable
I love cooking vegetables along with the pasta. Here are a few other recipes to try out:
Cauliflower and Nduja Pasta
Orecchiette with Turnip and Turnip Greens
Broccoli, Lemon and Hazelnut Pasta
Zucchini and Tuna Pasta
Yield 4-5
Ingredients
- 1 pound / 500 grams pasta
- 3-4 medium zucchini, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 can olive oil packed tuna, (do not drain)
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
- 1/4 cup olive oil plus more
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- zest of 1 lemon, grated
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 3 tablespoons capers or chopped olives (optional)
- Basil, parsley or dill if you have it, torn
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add the pasta. When the pasta is about 6 minutes from being done, add the chopped zucchini.
In the meantime combine the rest of the ingredients in a large serving bowl. Using a fork, break up the tuna and mix everything together. You can do this ahead of time if you’d like, since the longer it sits, the better it is.
When the pasta and vegetables are done, drain, and add to the bowl with the tuna. Mix well and drizzle with more olive oil if you’d like, as well as basil or fresh herbs if you have them.
This pasta, since it has tuna, is not topped with cheese (I knew you would ask so that is why I’m writing it here.
For more menu ideas and recipes see my book The Italian Table.
Canned ventresca (yellowfin) tuna from Castroni is ideal here; not sure if it’s available widely in the US. Also in my experience it would not be unusual for Italians to put cheese on a dish with canned tuna.
Canned ventresca is great at all times, but perhaps wasted on this dish? Also, I’ve never in my life seen parmigiano added to anything with tuna.