This Sicilian tuna pasta recipe comes to us from our friend Federico Polizzi, aka @cookwithfez, a brilliant and creative cook. You might know him from Instagram, where he shares his Studenti Contenti, or Happy Students, the Italian version of “college dorm recipes”, a collection of crowd-pleasing dishes that come together very quickly using mostly pantry staples.
We adapted his original recipe to make a Sicilian tuna pasta that is as Gusti as possible. When you use Testa buzzonaglia tuna, this humble pantry pasta is elevated into something truly special, rich, savory, and deeply satisfying, the kind of dish that feels far more luxurious than the effort required to make it. It’s the best tuna pasta sauce humanly possible.
Ingredients
TIME: 35 minutes
SERVES: 4
- Spaghetti Faella, 400gr
- Coarse sea salt, to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp
- Yellow onion, 2, finely sliced
- Anchovies in extra virgin olive oil, 4 fillets
- Buzzonaglia tuna, 1 jar
- Taggiasca olives, ½ jar, pitted
- Sun dried tomatoes, ⅔ jar
- Fresh parsley, 1 tbsp, minced + stems reserved
- Chili peppers in extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp or to taste (optional)
- 1/2 cup of pasta water
Preparation
- Pit the olives. Finely mince the olives and sun dried tomatoes together. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add coarse sea salt and cook the spaghetti. Go easy on the salt, the olives, sun dried tomatoes. and anchovies are already salty.
- While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the chili peppers (if using) and the anchovy fillets. Stir until the anchovies dissolve, then add the parsley stems.
- Add the sliced onion with a good pinch of salt. Cook until soft and lightly caramelized. Add about 1/2 cup of pasta water and let it simmer briefly.
- Turn off the heat and gently fold in the entire jar of buzzonaglia tuna.
- Drain the pasta when al dente.
- Add the pasta directly to the pan and toss well. Add about ⅔ of the olive and sun dried tomato mixture, ⅔ of the parsley, and mix until everything is evenly combined, 3 or 4 minutes, adding pasta water by the spoonful, to emulsify the sauce if needed.
- Plate the pasta and finish with the remaining olive and sun dried tomato mixture and the parsley. Serve immediately.