This 20-minute lemon tuna pasta with linguine, brown butter, and recent mint is impressed by a dish I had in Sardinia.
I had a pasta dish in Sardinia final summer season that I haven’t stopped excited about: linguine, huge chunks of tuna, tender cooked-down eggplant, lemon, lemon zest, butter, and — the half that threw me — mint. It’s not an herb I normally toss onto savory dishes, however it was SO GOOD! I’ve been recreating the lemon mint pasta combo at residence ever since. It really works with shrimp or hen too!
Humorous factor about pasta in Italy: it’s normally the primo, a course by itself, with protein saved for the secondo that comes after. So a lot of the pasta I ate that journey had zero meat or fish in it. This pasta in Sardinia broke that sample, and it was the very best dinner I had the entire journey.
The Unique:
The recipe is just not fancy, and it comes collectively in 20 minutes. Shiny, with somewhat warmth, somewhat surprising. Good for a weeknight when it’s too scorching to assume arduous about dinner. I really like that it makes use of tinned fish, so it’s simply a pantry staple meal in case you have somewhat mint in your backyard (or neighbor’s backyard!)
I make this with Fishwife’s Albacore Tuna with Spanish Lemon, and it’s mainly the shortcut model of the dish I had abroad — the tuna already comes packed in olive oil with lemon juice, so half the flavour work is finished earlier than you open the tin.
Substances
- 12 oz linguine
- 1 small eggplant, diced
- 3 tins (3.2 oz every) Fishwife Albacore Tuna with Spanish Lemon, drained and damaged into chunks (don’t shred it — you need actual bites)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 lemons — zest of each, juice of half (style earlier than including extra; the tuna brings its personal lemon)
- 1/3 cup recent mint leaves, torn or thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- Crimson pepper flakes, a pinch
- Flaky salt and black pepper
- Shaved pecorino, for serving
Directions
Cook dinner the Linguine
Cook dinner the linguine in well-salted water till simply shy of al dente — you’ll end it within the pan. Scoop out a mug of pasta water earlier than you drain.
Cook dinner the Eggplant
Whereas the water’s coming as much as boil, warmth the olive oil in a giant skillet over medium warmth. Add the diced eggplant and cook dinner, stirring often, till deeply comfortable and beginning to break down, 8–10 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt. You could want so as to add somewhat water throughout the cooking course of. This may assist it steam and break down.
Construct the Butter Base
Push the eggplant to the aspect, and soften butter over medium-low warmth with the garlic and purple pepper flakes. Let it go comfortable and aromatic, possibly 2 minutes. You’re not browning it, simply gently cooking.
End the Pasta within the Skillet
Add the drained linguine straight into the skillet together with a splash of the pasta water. Toss it over medium warmth for a minute so it finishes cooking in that butter and eggplant.
Fold within the Tuna and Lemon
Off the warmth, fold within the tuna chunks, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Go mild right here — you need huge flakes of tuna intact.
Add the Mint and Serve
Scatter within the mint and toss as soon as, simply sufficient to wilt it barely. Style for salt, add a crack of black pepper, and serve instantly with pecorino.
Linguine with Tuna, Lemon Butter, and Mint
A 20-minute lemon tuna pasta with linguine, brown butter, and recent mint — impressed by a dish I had in Sardinia.
Substances
- 12 oz linguine
- 1 small eggplant
- 3 tins 3.2 oz every Fishwife Albacore Tuna with Spanish Lemon, drained and damaged into chunks
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 lemons zested
- 1 lemon juiced (use half, then style)
- 1/3 cup recent mint leaves torn or thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic pressed or minced
- Pinch purple pepper flakes
- Flaky salt and black pepper to style
- Shaved pecorino for serving
Directions
Cook dinner the linguine in well-salted water till simply shy of al dente. Reserve a mug of pasta water, then drain.
Warmth the olive oil in a big skillet over medium warmth. Add the diced eggplant and cook dinner, stirring often, till deeply comfortable and beginning to break down, 8–10 minutes. Season with salt.
Add the butter, garlic, and purple pepper flakes to the identical skillet and let soften about 2 minutes, till comfortable and aromatic.
Add the drained linguine to the skillet with a splash of pasta water. Toss over medium warmth for 1 minute to complete cooking and construct a light-weight sauce.
Take away from warmth and fold within the tuna, lemon zest, and lemon juice, protecting the tuna in huge chunks. Add extra pasta water if wanted to loosen.
Scatter within the mint and toss as soon as. Style for salt, add black pepper, and serve instantly with shaved pecorino.
Notes
Use good olive-oil-packed tuna — Fishwife’s Albacore Tuna with Spanish Lemon is my go-to. If utilizing plain olive-oil tuna, add the juice of a full lemon as a substitute of half. Finest eaten the day it’s made; the mint fades by day two. Elective veggie add-ins: halved cherry tomatoes (blistered within the butter earlier than the pasta goes in), child spinach (wilted in with the mint), or frozen peas (added within the final minute of cooking).
Recipe Notes
Tuna Model
The tuna high quality issues greater than the rest on this recipe, and it’s why I preserve a stack of Fishwife tins within the pantry. It’s pole-and-line caught, MSC-certified, and packed by hand in Spanish olive oil with recent lemon juice — so that you’re getting actual, tender chunks of fish, not the flaky stuff from a store-brand can. The lemon tuna particularly was made for this dish. In case you can’t discover it, their plain olive-oil tuna works too — simply add the juice of a full lemon as a substitute of half.
Don’t skip the mint!
Don’t skip the mint, even when it looks like an odd selection on paper. It’s what makes this style like a visit and never simply one other lemon pasta.
Don’t rush the eggplant
Don’t rush the eggplant. You need it correctly comfortable and beginning to collapse. Give it the complete 8–10 minutes and resist the urge to stir it always.
Leftovers
Leftovers reheat fantastic with a splash of water and somewhat additional lemon juice to wake it again up, however that is actually finest eaten the day you make it — the mint loses its punch by day two.
Add some veggies!
I stored this recipe easy and true to the one I had, however you may after all toss in any greens you’d wish to make it a bit extra properly rounded. Halved cherry tomatoes are my first choose — toss them into the butter for a minute earlier than the pasta goes in so that they blister and get juicy, and that acidity performs rather well with the lemon. Child spinach works too — a pair handfuls tossed in with the mint on the finish wilts down in seconds. One other suggestion is frozen peas, added straight from the freezer over the last minute the linguine is within the skillet — peas and mint are a basic pairing for a motive.
