Pasta with Peas and Tuna

By mpmcgonagle

Pasta con Tonno e Piselli
This recipe was acquired from Nick Stellino’s website.

Ingredients

• 3 quarts water
• 1 box (10 oz.) frozen peas
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 6 cloves garlic, thickly sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 2 cans (6 oz.) solid white albacore tuna packed in water, drained
• Zest of 1 large lemon, grated (1 tablespoon)
• 2 cups clam juice or chicken stock
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb. spaghetti, or linguine

Details

Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 45mins
Adapted from nickstellino.com

Preparation

Step 1

Bring the water for the pasta to a boil in a large pot.

Rinse the peas under warm water for a few seconds and drain well.

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat until sizzling. Sauté the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes and half of the chopped parsley until the onion is lightly colored, about 6-7 minutes. Stir in the tuna and the lemon zest, breaking the tuna into flakes. Add the clam juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil then simmer to a sauce consistency about 8-10 minutes. Stir in the peas cook two more minutes.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package, drain and return to the pot. Pour the sauce over the pasta and simmer over low heat stirring constantly, until the pasta is well coated, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with parsley. The pasta is ready to be served.

Suggestions:

Cut the amount of lemon by half to reduce the lemon taste.

If baking fresh tuna, add fully baked tuna to the sauce as late as possible so as not to toughen the tuna in the simmering process.

Sprinkle finished dish with grated parmesan cheese.