Quick and Easy Recipes: Pasta with Tuna and Tomato Sauce
Cooking in a Campervan
Quick and easy meal ideas
I got the idea for writing a set of articles about quick and easy recipes while I was travelling around New Zealand in a campervan. While travelling, especially in remote places, we found that we needed to create an interesting menu of meals from a limited collection of ingredients. Reasons for this were that we wouldn't couldn't stock up in supermarkets particularly often due to our remote locations; we couldn't keep food fresh for long periods; and because we had limited space in which to cook and prepare meals.
While the inspiration for these recipe ideas came from travelling in a campervan I would say they are also useful to anyone who wants to eat fresh, home-cooked food but doesn't want to spend a lot of money on a long list of ingredients and who wants something that quick and easy to prepare - but ultimately delicious!
In this article I will provide you with a quick and easy recipe for pasta with tune. When at home, this is a good meal to make when you've not got too much time or when pay day is approaching and you need to throw something together with the items in your store cupboard. And as this is a recipe that is good for making whilst on the road in a camper van, you should have a bunch of store cupboard items at your disposal. The reason I say this is that if you set out in your campervan with a bunch of fresh produce then you're inevitably going to find yourself going to the supermarket every few days or risk having your fresh food spoiled by the weather - it can get very hot of very cold in a campervan!
Anyway, as I say this dish only requires a few ingredients and you'll see that it's very quick and easy to put together.
Cooking in a Campervan
When travelling in a campervan we found it easy to prepare a meal plan for the whole week and stick to it. This made our shopping trips easier as we knew exactly what items to get and it also made the shopping bills cheaper as there were no 'speculative' items and no impulse buys. And no wastage!
Cook Time for Tuna Pasta
Ingredients Tuna with Pasta Recipe
- 200g Fusili Pasta
- 1 can Tuna
- 1 onion
- 2 Cloves of Garlic
- 450g tin Chopped Tomatoes
- A handful Parmesan
Campervan Cooking Made Easy
Instructions for making Pasta with Tuna and Tomato Sauce
- Cook the pasta in boiling water for about 10 minutes (or to your own preference - some people like to have their pasta al dente ie slightly hard). Add a pinch of salt and splash of oil
- Heat a splash of oil over a medium heat and fry the onions until they become translucent. Add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes.
- Add the chopped tomatoes to the onion and garlic and stir well for 5 minutes. If the mixture starts bubbling, turn down the heat. You don't want to burn this.
- Make sure the tuna is nicely shredded and separated and stir into the tomato mix. Stir well.
- Drain the cooked pasta and stir into the hot pan making sure that you coat it in the tomato sauce. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the grated parmesan and serve. Add more parmesan if required.
And there you have a simple, tasty pasta dish. Bon appetite!
There are of course subtle variations to this list of ingredients set out above. On occasion I have made the dish using red onions in place of white onions. Similarly you can substitute fusili pasta for any type of pasta including spaghetti. While parmesan is the ideal cheese to use you could also use cheddar or some other cheese. You don't want the cheese to overpower the dish but it works to compliment the tomato sauce.
