Tuna, Lemon & Herb Fettucine

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have an inordinate amount of stored pages from food magazine and supplements as well as recipe cards. This recipe was originally from one such Waitrose instore recipe card but when thinking of it (with all my cards in storage) I was luckily able to find it on the Waitrose site.

I have made here some adjustments to quantities, there was far too much lemon in the original and not enough capers, and ingredients with the addition of pinenuts, red pepper flakes and crushed fennel seeds. I’ve also used tuna in spring water where the original called for tuna in oil, as I prefer to control the amount of oil in my cooking. Importantly though, do use the best tuna you can lay your hands on (albacore is always a good bet) and do make sure it is sustainably sourced.

This is very simple, and very tasty. You don’t have to use both basil and parsley, choose one or the other as you see fit and of course both the red pepper flakes (or chilli flakes) and fennel seeds are entirely optional. But do enjoy, preferably with a glass of chilled, crisp white wine!


Tuna, lemon and herb fettucine
Serves 2

160g fettucine (or other thin, long pasta)
225g jar albacore tuna fillets in spring water
4 tsp capers, roughly chopped
grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
5g fresh basil leaves
5g flat leaf parsley leaves (discard tough stalks),
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp crushed fennel seeds
2 tbsp pinenuts
4 tsp olive oil
freshly coarsely ground black pepper to serve

Cook the fettucine according to package instructions in a large pan of well salted boiling water (about ten minutes) until al dente and drain.

Meanwhile toast the pinenuts in a small dry frying pan over a medium heat. Chiffonade the basil and finely chop the parsley.

Drain the tuna and flake into a bowl then add the capers, lemon zest and juice, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, pinenuts and herbs.

Toss the drained pasta with the tuna mixture and olive oil.

Serve, with with some freshly ground pepper and a sprig of basil.