Shared by Vlatko Juric-Kokic

Anyway, I'm just going to prepare another pasta meal, Tuna pasta. :-)

It goes like this:

Take about a quarter pound of a thick pasta. As I said earlier, penne, fusili, sedani rigati, or something like that. Thin pastas like vermicelli or spaghettini can also be used, but the thick ones are better.

Put water to boil.

*Take a small can of tuna steak or chunks in ordinary oil or brine. I use a 185g can (150g net fish). That's ... 6 ounces or so. Drain the liquid, put the meat into a bowl and mash it thoroughly with a fork.

*take a 100g (3.5 ounces) of grated parmigiano cheese, pour into the bowl with the fish.

*add butter, about an ounce or 1.5 ounces, to the above

*add a tablespoon or so of olive oil

*add juice of half a lemon

*add garlic to taste (very finely minced or pressed)

*add a pinch of dried parsley (or finely minced fresh one)

*add salt and pepper to taste

*you can add other spices. I found that ground rosemary or sage leaves go very well with tuna.

Mash all together with fork until you get a viscid (hah! looked that one in the dictionary :-)) paste, which can be also served as a spread. I suppose you can throw everything into a blender and get the results much sooner and with much less effort.

As all the quantities are variable, you can experiment with them. My sister uses mayonaise instead of butter, but I don't like it. Also, if you don't have a lemon, you can substitute a bit of wine or apple or balsamic vinegar. Something to cut through all that heavy ingredients. You can also substitute other fish filets, like mackerel, for tuna. Not bad, but this is better.

Okay, so while you were chopping and mincing and blending, the water boiled. Put the pasta in. When it's cooked, drain *thoroughly* in a colander or whatever you use. :-) Put the *hot* pasta into a serving or any other bowl, empty the bowl with the paste into it. Stir with a long spoon or with a salad kit (a long spoon and fork) until the paste is spread evenly all over the pasta.

(A bit of homegrown cooking wisdom. If the remains of the paste are sticking to its bowl, put a small quantity of the hot pasta into it. It will melt the butter so it will be easier to *empty* the bowl into the big one.)

Serve. You can also serve additional grated parmigiano with it. White wine goes well with tuna. :-)

Bon apetit.