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Recipes with tinned tuna in olive oil

4 recipes that use tinned tuna in olive oil, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Spaghetti al tonno, takes 20 minutes. It is most often cooked with garlic, anchovy fillets in oil and capers.

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Spaghetti al tonnoSpaghetti with tuna and tomato

Spaghetti al tonno is what families from Naples to Palermo make when the fridge is empty but the cupboard holds a tin of good tuna in olive oil, some tomatoes and a jar of capers. The sauce is ready in the time the pasta boils: garlic warmed in the tuna's own oil, tomatoes simmered briefly, then the tuna folded through in flakes with parsley. The mistake to avoid is boiling the tuna in the sauce for long, which turns it dry and stringy; add it at the end and just warm it. Like most fish pastas in Italy, it is served without cheese. Chef's tip: use the oil from the tin to start the sauce, and save a few big flakes of tuna to put on top of each plate.

20 minItalianPasta & Noodles
by KrazyBadal 0 views

TitainaTomato, pepper and tuna stew

Titaina comes from the Cabanyal, the tiled fishermen's neighbourhood by Valencia's beach, where it is still served as a tapa in the old bars and spooned onto bread at home on summer evenings. Green peppers, onion and ripe tomatoes are cooked down in olive oil with toasted pine nuts until sweet, then mixed with tuna. Fishermen used tonyina de sorra, salt-cured tuna belly; this version uses good tinned tuna in olive oil, which is already cooked and easy to find. A common mistake is cooking it fast on a high heat: it needs a slow 40 minutes so the vegetables melt instead of fry. Chef's tip: add a pinch of sugar only if your tomatoes are sharp, and stir in the tuna at the very end so it stays in flakes.

65 minSpanishFishGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

XatóEndive salad with salt cod

From late autumn to early spring, the towns of the Garraf coast, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Sitges and Vilafranca, hold xatonades: festive lunches built round this salad of bitter curly endive dressed with a thick sauce of ñora peppers, almonds, hazelnuts and garlic, and loaded with salt cod, tuna and anchovies. Each town insists its sauce is the true one. Like esqueixada, the cod is often only desalted; it is poached here for safety, since raw cured fish is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: dress the endive in the sauce with your hands, so every frond is coated before the fish goes on top.

70 minSpanishSalads
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vitello tonnatoVeal with tuna sauce

On the hottest days of a Piedmontese summer, and above all for the Ferragosto holiday in mid-August, families set out a platter of cold, thinly sliced veal hidden under a pale, velvety sauce of tuna, anchovy and capers. The combination sounds odd and tastes wonderful: tender, mild meat and a savoury, lemony sauce that is rich without being heavy. This version follows the older Piedmontese style, thickening the sauce with hard-boiled egg yolks and the veal's own poaching broth instead of raw-egg mayonnaise; if you prefer a mayonnaise base, use one made with pasteurised eggs. Serve it as a starter or a summer main with a green salad and bread. A common mistake is slicing the meat while warm; it frays and tears, so chill it first and cut it as thin as you can. Chef's tip: assemble it the evening before; overnight in the fridge, the sauce seeps into the meat and the flavours settle together.

120 minItalianMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with tinned tuna in olive oil