My roommate Pierre made lunch today. I love having 2 roommates who are both outstanding cooks and actually enjoy cooking. John is a whiz at sauces and Pierre can work magic with pasta so today he showered us with a little more of his magic via Curry Tuna Pasta. If your initial reaction was “curry and tuna? yuk!”, you’re not alone. But trust me, this combination is wonderful. Actually don’t trust me, try it for yourself. It is super easy, very healthy and very filling.
Tuna in oil (thon a l’huile) is also a new thing for me. Having been on a perpetual diet since I was 12 for no other reason than a weight-obsessed culture and a crabby gymnastics coach, tuna packed in oil was evil and tuna packed in water was good. Tuna in water, aside from doubling as cat food in a pinch, is also the standard item across the board on every diet program known to man so for me it was always a diet/punishment food as in “Ugh, I have to eat tuna again…because Jenny Craig said I was fat!” Well the heck Jenny Craig, my crabby gymnastics coach, and all the rest of ‘em!
The first time I had tuna in oil was spring 2003 when I worked on Jacques Pépin’s cooking show, Fast Food My Way. One of the recipes, actually all the recipes that call for tuna recommend tuna packed in oil. After taping one of the episodes, Jacques asked me what I thought of the Chicken Tonnato, or chicken in tuna sauce (pg 148).
My little Italian grandmother made Veal Tonnato, veal in tuna sauce, all the time but I never ate it because it was made with…yep, you guessed it…the evil tuna. So between the diet/punishment food—cat food—evil food association, tuna packed in anything, water, oil or otherwise, was doomed in my culinary repertoire.
I sheepishly told Jacques that I hadn’t tried it because I didn’t like tuna in oil. I know, I know, Pavlov’s dog, I can’t help it… at least I didn’t tell him I thought it was evil. Well Jacques looked at me like I was crazy, rightfully so, opened a can of tuna in oil and “asked” me try it. When Jacques Pépin asks you to try something, you try it, period. Of course I loved it and he smiled triumphantly. As Martha would say, "it's a good thing!"
Pierre's Parisian Pasta with Curry Tuna
2 small red onions – quartered through the root (to hold it together) and sliced
1 basket cherry tomatoes – cut into ¼ if they are large
2 cans tuna in oil – not the nasty little cans of tuna in water that double as cat food please! this is nourishment, not punishment!
3 heaping tablespoons crème fraîche – and I mean heaping!
curry powder
olive oil
salt* & pepper
pasta – i'm not big on measurements so for 3 of us (2 being very hungry men) we used about 1/2-2/3 of a 500 g box of fusilli (Barilla girandole-torsades, no. 34)
1. bring a pot of water, a few drops of olive oil, and a few shakes of salt to a boil on the stove. remember the water “must taste like zee sea” according to my French chef in cooking school. add pasta and cook to your liking. I prefer “al dente” but keep tasting and decide for yourself.
2. sauté the red onions in olive oil, season with salt & pepper, on medium high heat until soft.
one thing they taught us in cooking school was to season (meaning add salt & pepper) everything! if you don’t believe me, try this. cut 2 wedges of tomato. salt just one wedge. taste the unsalted wedge first. then taste the salted one. voila! night and day, n’est-ce pas?
*a quick note on salt. please, i implore you, please don't use that nasty salt in the blue box, you know the one i mean. a small investment in a container of sea salt or gray salt will change the way you cook. it did for me! we also used kosher salt in cooking school. fleur de sel is the ducati of the salt lineage. use it sparingly and only as a garnish, never to cook with, but more on that later. the only sea salt in my kitchen is sea salt from france's brittany coast. you only need to use a small amount and, as my friend arleen said, "laura taught me that … gray salt from brittany, france is truly a little taste of heaven". so there you have it... see, you got me started… sorry, back to the pasta…
3. lower heat to medium and add tomatoes. cook for a few minutes.
4. add tuna, break apart with spoon, stir to combine. continue to cook for a few minutes.
5. add crème fraîche and curry powder and stir to combine. let simmer for a while (5-10 minutes) to combine the flavors. pierre adds a lot of curry but add it according to your taste. if you don’t know your taste, add a few shakes and taste, then add a few more and taste, etc… that is the best way to learn how to cook…continually taste as you cook then you will learn the differences, the nuances, your likes, and dislikes.
6. drain the pasta and add to the tuna sauce. combine and serve. bon appetit!
Yum! Tuna in oil is now on my grocery list. You're a terrific writer, you made me smile at the end of a really crap day. Thanks.
Posted by: Sam | Wednesday, 05 January 2005 at 01:51 AM
I made this today, it was fantastic! My husband and I loved it. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: kim | Friday, 22 January 2010 at 04:58 AM