These two recipes contain both pasta and canned tuna, but the results are as different as summer and winter. Tuna pomodoro is a tomato sauce served over whole grain spaghetti, while the second recipe is a baked mac and cheese with broccoli and tuna.
Pomodoro Tuna
This dish is light, delicious, and filling, and I think it’s the best pantry pasta ever. In a recipe with so few ingredients, it will be obvious if you try substitutions like tuna in water instead of tuna in oil. I know from personal experience that it won’t taste the same.
- 8 oz whole grain angel hair pasta
- Salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 14.5 can can diced tomatoes in Hunt’s sauce, undrained
- a 5 oz can of tuna in oil
- dried basil, to taste
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Salt the water and add the spaghetti. Cook according to package directions and drain well.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. (If you like, you can save the tuna oil when you drain it from the can and use 2 tablespoons of that oil.)
- Add the minced garlic and crushed red bell pepper and sauté for a quick minute.
- Add the canned tomatoes with the juices to the pot, lower the heat to medium, and simmer for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the drained tuna and cook until hot, about 2 minutes. Add several generous drops of dried basil. Stir to incorporate the ingredients. Serve with whole wheat spaghetti.
Tuna Macaroni and Cheese
For weeks, I craved tuna. Then the weather turned cold and I wanted broccoli soup. Since I regularly make mac n cheese, testing and developing recipes for my website, I thought I would combine all of these things. The cheese sauce for these macaroni is made from canned soup.
- 1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
- a can of tuna, drained (I used 5 ounces, but you can use more if you want)
- half a 12 oz bag frozen broccoli
- one 10.5 oz can cheddar cheese or broccoli cheese soup
- 2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded or crumbled
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup of milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Place the broccoli in a colander and pour the hot water and pasta over the vegetables while the water drains.
- Put the drained pasta and broccoli back in the pot. Add the canned soup, mustard, tuna, 2 cups of the cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, and milk. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a greased saucepan. Bake for 15 minutes, top with the rest of the cheese and bake for another 5 minutes.