Tuna Spaghetti with Courgettes, Chilli, Lemon and Oregano
My eldest daughter Grace likes tuna. And, in the run up to her leaving home in September and cooking for herself full time, I’ve been trying to give her a few different recipe ideas for tuna. I also love tinned / jarred tuna and there are a wide variety of brands to choose from.
Personally I know my favourite, it comes in a jar, but it is pricey. I bought this x4 pack of tinned tuna the other day from the supermarket, crucially, it has the MSC credited sustainability sticker, stored in sunflower oil, this 125g tinned tuna is pretty tasty and considerably less money that the jar I buy occasionally.
If I can teach Grace anything about cooking wisely, it’s about being able to stretch an ingredient to feed more by choosing simpatico, cheaper ingredients to match the more costly ones. In this case, good olive oil and tinned tuna supplemented by seasonal favourite courgettes, chilli, garlic and lemon. A small tin of tuna as used in this recipe will easily feed 3 people with the spaghetti as main heft of the meal.
I very much doubt Grace will have a herb garden at Uni (can you imagine!), but here to encourage generous use of dried oregano as a useful seasoning, inexpensive and it really does deliver on flavour.
No cheese necessary for this pasta dish.
Top tip: chop the courgettes on the bias, so you get a good mix of textures, some sides blistering and turning super soft, some still with a bit of bite, this is good in amongst the spaghetti.
INGREDIENTS
Feeds 2 or 3
1/2 packet spaghetti
1 small 125g tuna stored in oil
2 courgettes, chopped on the bias
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Fresh red chilli, finely chopped, to taste
1 large lemon, juice and zest
1 tsp dried oregano, or more to taste
Small bunch of fresh herbs, I used oregano
Olive oil, to fry and also to finish
METHOD
Get a big pan of well salted water onto boil.
In a large frying pan add some olive oil and fry the courgettes with a big pinch of salt over a fairly high heat until some pieces get good colour, around 3 or 4 miniutes, add the chopped garlic and chilli and fry for 2 minutes more. Reduce the heat, add the dried oregano and lemon zest and keep cooking over a lower heat until the courgettes are all cooked through, some softer than others. Add the tuna and lemon juice and fresh herbs off the heat.
Add the cooked spaghetti to the tuna and courgette mix in the frying pan, add a splash of the pasta cooking water to the pan to get the pasta and courgette mix nice and loose. Check the seasoning, and add a good slosh more of olive oil to finish.
Serve immediately.