Paccheri with Fresh Tuna Ragu: Recipe from Sicily
This fresh and delicious pasta with fresh tuna recipe from Sicily is easy to make and only takes the time you need to boil the water and cook the pasta! Perfect summer or weeknight meal!
- Prep time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 20 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 360 g mezzi paccheri pasta ((12-13oz) or paccheri, giant penne, rigatoni etc)
- 350 g fresh tuna ((12oz) 1-2 thick steaks)
- 1-2 red onions (I used Tropea onions)
- 250 g datterini tomatoes ((9oz) )
- 1 lemon (organic ( to zest))
- 1/2 glass dry white wine
- mint leaves
- salt (for pasta and to taste)
- ground black pepper (to taste)
- extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- 1
Put a pot of water onto boil for the pasta. Add salt once it starts to boil and bring tothe boil again.
- 2
Peel the red onion/s and slice into thin crescents. Cut the tuna into cubes, as in the photos. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalk and cut them in half.
- 3
Pour olive oil into a large frying pan or skillet, add the red onion and sauté gently. Once the onion has softened, add the tomatoes and cook on a medium heat until they start to softentoo. Then turn the heat up, add the tuna and brown it for a couple of minutes turning frequently and then add the white wine. Allow the alcohol to evaporate. Turn the heat down.
- 4
Cook the pasta a minute less than al dente according to the instructions on the packet.
- 5
While the pasta is cooking (it usually takes about 10 minutes) season the tuna ragu withsalt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes more. You will see that the tomato peel begin to come off on its own, you can remove the peel if you prefer with the help of a knife and fork. I didn’t remove it.
- 6
Add a little chopped fresh mint and cook the tuna sauce for a couple of minutes more.If necessary, add 1/2 ladle of pasta cooking water if the sauce seems dry.
- 7
When the pasta is almost cooked, save a little of the cooking water and drain. Add thepasta to the pan with the tuna ragu. Mix the sauce and the pasta together well and finish cooking the pasta in the sauce. Adding a little pasta cooking water if you need it.
- 8
When the pasta is ready, remove the skillet from the heat and add some more chopped freshmint leaves, freshly ground black pepper and the grated zest of one lemon. You can serve your mezzi paccheri with fresh tuna ragu with a drizzle of olive oil and some peperoncino flakes if desired.