As with excellent recipes, this one is ripe for adapting. More tomatoes? OK. Only canned tomatoes? OK, too. No spinach? Use chopped kale or Swiss chard or collards. Add more tuna if desired. Leftovers are excellent – if there are any. https://food52.com/recipes/14030-first-night-in-florence-spaghetti
Serves 2, with leftovers
Ingredients
- 1/2 package spaghetti or bucatini
- Sea or kosher salt
- Good olive oil, and lots of it
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes of whatever colors are to hand, halved
- A couple of generous handfuls of fresh spinach, stems pinched off
- Juice of 1/2 lemon, Meyer if possible
- Sea or kosher salt and pepper to taste
- A good Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 can tuna packed in olive oil, typically 5 to 6 ounces – not drained!
- 2 cloves garlic smashed, peeled, minced
Directions
- Check the cook time. Set a timer for 3 minutes less than the recommended cook time. Drop the pasta into the
water and begin making the sauce. Multi-tasking necessary here: keep a set of tongs to hand to gently move the
pasta around so that it doesn’t sink and stick, and also to move the sauce ingredients about. - Set a skillet over medium-high heat. It should be large enough to hold the sauce and pasta at the end. Force
yourself to add 2 or 3 times as much good olive oil as you usually would.; we’re not “filming” any pans here.
This is all about bold flavors that flow from delicate ingredients. Use a good 4 ounces. - When the oil is hot (it’ll shimmer, or ribbon), add the halved tomatoes. They’ll cook along quickly, releasing those
precious juices to concentrate in all that lovely olive oil. If the skillet is too spattery, turn the heat down a bit. As
the tomatoes begin to soften, add the garlic. When it’s very fragrant, add the tuna and its oil. Break up any large
chunks with a wooden spoon. Turn down the heat to a good simmer. - When the timer goes off for the pasta, use tongs to lift it out of the boiling water and drop it directly into the
skillet. It’s going to cook some more in the skillet. Dip out a couple of ladles of pasta water and add to the skillet.
Move everything around and together with your tongs. Toss in the spinach and add the lemon juice. Tong it all
about until spinach is just wilted. Taste the sauce before you season to taste with salt and pepper. Use your tongs
to lift pasta out onto plates. Divide any remaining sauce between them. If you wish, grate some good pecorino
over the top; Italians typically don’t permit cheese and fish to occupy the same plate, but it’s your kitchen. Serve
with slices of focaccia or baguette so that not one drop of sauce is left behind.
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