Pasta with Tuna - easy dinner solution

Dear all,

Everybody needs a collection of easy recipes that can be prepared with minimal shopping and effort. One of my go-to recipes for days, when I need an almost instant dinner, is pasta with tuna. This recipe not only tastes nice, it can be thrown together in twenty minutes – if you have the tomato sauce ready. I always cook big pots of tomato sauce and freeze them for emergencies.

You can also use readymade tomato sauce for this dish. Just cut up some good tuna, heat it up with the tomato sauce, boil your pasta and voilà! Dinner is served.

Tuna delivers precious omega-3 fatty acids, but you should not eat tuna from a tin too often. All tinned foods contains bisphenol A (BPA). Experts still argue if small amounts of BPA are dangerous or not. I throw a dice here and state: Once in a while we can afford to eat tinned food.

Whenever I can, I buy organic produce but everything today is polluted. Our bodies have to cope with pollution. I would not recommend eating tins daily, but once in a while our bodies should be able to deal with them.


Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

 

Pasta with Tuna

Ingredients:
(for 4 servings)

• 1 tin tuna in brine
• 1 can of Italian tomatoes or 2 packets tomato puree or 1 glass Italian tomatoes
• 1 bundle spring onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 carrot
• 1 beetroot
• 1 stalk celery
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 packet Italian pasta (500 gm)
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

Clean and cut spring onions, crush garlic, grate carrot and beetroot and slice the celery. I chop all the vegetables in a blender, then place them into a pot and add the tomatoes.


Bring to a boil. Simmer for at least 15 minutes until the vegetables have softened. Season the sauce with salt and pepper according to taste. Open the tin and flake tuna. Mix it with the sauce.


For the pasta, bring a big pot with water to a boil.When the pasta water is boiling, add salt and pasta and cook the pasta as long as indicated on the packet. Drain the pasta, combine it with sauce and serve immediately.

Crispy Skin on Fish Filet

You can crisp up the skin of almost any fish filet. When I feel ambitious, I filet the fish at home. You need a sharp knife and a bit of technique. Chop off the head and clean the belly. Slice along the backbone and remove the first filet by sliding the knife under it, starting from the tail. Then flip the fish and remove the second filet.

Ingredients:
(for 4 servings)

• 4 fish filets around 250 gm each
• 8 tbsp peanut oil (or any other oil with a high smoking point)
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

There are some rules to obey to achieve really crispy fish skin:
 

• You have to dry it as much as possible.
• You need a pan with a heavy bottom so you can get a hot, even temperature.
• You have to press down the fish filets when they hit the pan because they contract and curve upwards. The full skin needs to make contact with the bottom of the pan in order to fry properly.

Put oil in a pan with a heavy bottom. Don’t use non-stick pans. If filets are big, use two pans or fry batches. Set fire to medium-high on a big ring. Season both sides of filet with salt and pepper just before you start frying.

Have a spatula ready. As soon as filets hit pan, they curl upwards. Keep pressing down so the full skin makes contact evenly. Don’t flip the filets. The Fish is done when you see brown skin around the outer edges. Most of the flesh should have turned white.




Now turn the filets and give them one minute on the flesh side. Serve with the crispy skin up; otherwise juices will turn skin soggy.






 

Seafood: The best Source for Omega-3

Scientists keep exploring the enormous impact of omega-3 on our brain. It not only prevents heart disease, it also makes our neurons fire faster und alleviates depression. This substance originates at the bottom of the food chain in the leaves of plants and a variety of green algae. Omega-3 found in plants like flax seeds and walnuts is called ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). Animals convert ALA into EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), vital for our heart and brains. Humans also convert ALA, but they do a rather poor job.
In times past, eating farm-fed animals gave us a lot of omega-3. If you can, buy meat from grass fed animals because. If you want to ensure you get enough of the good omega-3, fish is your best source – it accumulates in the fatty tissues.