This tomato pasta can be served in 30 minutes without compromising the taste. Here are 2 tricks. 1) Use canned tuna in olive oil, to thicken the sauce; 2) Use tomato passata instead of canned tomatoes, to make a richer sauce.
Use Tomato Passata!
Last time I referred to a Japanese cookbook, to cook a Basic Tomato Sauce Spaghetti, by using only canned tomato and fresh tomatoes, it’s a simple way to make a tomato pasta.
This time, I wanted it to be richer, so I changed canned tomato with tomato passata.
Tomato passata is a smooth tomato sauce made from boiled tomatoes, but the skins, seeds and excess water have been removed and then pressed. The texture is between ordinary tomato sauce and tomato paste.
How Italian Handmade Tomato Passata
Because of the tomato passata, the overall taste was stronger than canned tomatoes. And it saved cooking time. I added ketchup to deliver a fruity and sweet flavour, and sugar was to balance the flavour.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 140 g spaghetti
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ onion, sliced
- ½ dry chilli, deseeded
- ½ canned tuna in olive oil (90 g)
- 2 colours of bell pepper, ¼ each, cut into strips (optional)
- 200 g tomato passata
- 1 ½ tbsp ketchup
- ½ tsp sugar
- parsley
- parmigiano reggiano
- black pepper
How to Make Very Rich Tuna Tomato Pasta
- Boil a pot of water, add 1% salt, boil pasta per instructions.
- Heat some oil in a pan, sauté the onion, garlic and chilli until fragrant. Add the bell peppers (if using), together with the whole can of tuna. Loosen up the large pieces of tuna.
- Pour in the tomato passata, ketchup, sugar and mix well. Cook for 15 minutes over low heat, until the sauce reduced a bit and thickened.
- Stir in the pasta, parsley and mix thoroughly. Freshly grate some cheese and a few twists of black pepper on top, enjoy!
Note: The canned tuna and tomato passata I used were already salted. After the sauce is done, I gave it a taste and it was great, so I didn’t add extra salt to it.
