Weeknight Cooking
Pantry dinner - corn, tomato, pasta & tuna
- Prep time 10 minutes
- Cook time 25 minutes
- Serves 4-6 as main, more as a side
Author Notes
One day, I had spiked my tomato sauce with some horseradish (just enough to add warmth, not black-belt heat) and wanted to build a meal around that. This dish is what I made - tasty, easy, from what’s in hand at home. If you don't have horseradish, use a hot sauce you have or prefer. Keep the corn, pasta and tomato sauce as the core of the dish , but use another fish and/or root vegetable if you want. Last, you can make this year round - pull your ingredients from pantry, fridge and/or freezer. —Nancy
What You'll Need
Ingredients
-
4 cups
Dried short pasta, all one type or odds and ends (total 12 oz or about 350g)
-
3 cups
Tomato sauce, about 750 ml
-
6 ounces
Tuna, cooked or canned in oil, about 180g
-
1 cup
Beets or other root veg (raw, canned or frozen) about 225 ml
-
2 cups
Corn kernels (raw, canned or frozen), about 450 ml
-
1 tablespoon
Horseradish or hot sauce (15 ml)
-
to taste
Lemon juice or white wine vinegar
-
to taste
Salt & freshly ground pepper
-
1-2 tablespoons
Olive oil, optional (15-30 ml)
Directions
- Start about 5 quarts or liters of water to boil. Add 1-2 tbsp salt. Once boiling, add the dry pasta and start to cook it.
- In a 4-qt or 4L oven proof casserole, mix tomato sauce, tuna and horseradish sauce. Add raw, cooked or canned corn and beets to casserole. If no oil in the canned products, add 1-2 tbsp olive oil for flavor.
- When the pasta is cooked 1-2 minutes less than package directions specify, take it off the heat. Do not rinse or drain the pasta. Rather, using a skimmer or slotted spoon, remove the nearly-cooked pasta to the dish with tomato-fish-vegetables and toss together. Taste & season as needed with salt and pepper, lemon juice or more horseradish. Also add pasta cooking water (1/2 to 1 cup) to sauce and mix.
- You can interrupt your prep here and store the covered partially cooked dish in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
- Cook uncovered in a medium hot oven (375F or 190C) about 15 minutes if making the recipe straight through, or about half hour if taking it directly from the fridge. Taste and cook longer if desired.
- Drink suggestions. For red wine, light Zinfandel or Primitivo. For white wine, a chilled dry Riesling. Without alcohol - lemonade.
- Extras freeze well. Thaw in fridge or take directly from freezer to cook in microwave or oven.
See what other Food52ers are saying.