Few ingredients do as much heavy lifting on a busy weeknight as a tin of tuna. Kept in the cupboard rather than the fridge, it needs no defrosting and almost no preparation, yet it can anchor a full pasta dish in the time it takes to bring a pot of water to the boil. This version pairs it with a light tomato sauce, sharpened with capers and a touch of chilli.
Why this method works
The trick to a good quick sauce is restraint rather than speed. Rather than letting the tomato reduce for a long stretch, as a slow ragù would, this sauce is given only a short simmer, roughly the same length of time the pasta needs to cook. The result is a sauce that tastes fresh rather than heavy, with the capers doing the work that a longer cooking time would otherwise provide: they lend the dish a briny intensity it would not otherwise develop in such a short window. The tuna itself goes in last, warmed through for barely a minute or two so it keeps some texture rather than dissolving into the sauce.
Spaghetti with tuna, tomato and capers
Time: 15 minutes | Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 400g spaghetti
- 2 tins of tuna in water or olive oil, drained
- 400g chopped tomatoes or passata
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1½ tbsp capers, drained
- ½ tsp chilli flakes, optional
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt
Method
Put the spaghetti on to boil in plenty of salted water. While it cooks, start the sauce: warm the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the garlic and let it soften for about 30 seconds, adding the chilli flakes at this point if a bit of heat is wanted.
Stir in the tomato and capers, reduce the heat slightly and leave the sauce to simmer for 7 to 8 minutes, no longer. Break the tuna into large flakes and fold it in only for the final minute or two, just long enough to heat through.
Lift the spaghetti straight from the pot into the pan, along with two or three spoonfuls of its cooking water, and toss everything together for about a minute so the sauce clings to the pasta. Take the pan off the heat, finish with parsley and a generous grind of black pepper, and serve straight away.
