Spaghetti con il Tonno

I was looking for a quick cook pasta recipe and came across this one in The Silver Spoon. It's one of those recipes that you basically always have the ingredients on hand. I always hate when a recipe calls for some weirdo amount of pasta like this one - 12oz. What's up with that? What am I doing with the other 6 oz? I always make the full pound of pasta.  Otherwise you would end up with a hodgepodge of pasta sitting around. Doesn't make sense. But I digress...

Spaghetti with Tuna (Adapted from The Silver Spoon)

3 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can tuna, packed in oil, drained and flaked*
3 T tomato paste**
4T water
1lb spaghetti
salt/pepper
Fresh Parsley chopped

Heat the oil in a skillet and cook the garlic. Do not let the garlic brown. Add the tuna and mix well.  Stir the water into the tomato paste (you may need to add a little more water - you want a loose pudding-like consistency). Cook over low heat for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile cook spaghetti in salted water until al dente. Season the tuna/tomato with salt and pepper to taste. Add spaghetti to pan and stir to combine. Add parsley.

Don't skimp on the fresh parsley - it really adds a lot to the dish.

*Tuna used to come in 6 oz cans - now it comes in some crazy 5.something or other ounce - use that size.  The original recipes called for 2.5 oz - once again what do I do with the rest? Besides 2.5oz of tuna to 12oz of pasta=not enough tuna to pasta ratio!

**Now I know I've been complaining about the leftover tuna and pasta but I have a solution for the left over tomato paste.  I freeze the rest in tablespoon increments in a snack-size zipper bag.  You can fit about 3 T to each bag. This way when you get one of these recipes when you only need a tablespoon or two you have it at the ready.