Got my BD Veleta selections recently, and I’m wondering what people do with these. Obviously I’m very happy to eat them on toast with a bit of OO, but wondering if there’s something else out there I’m missing. I’ve got everything - tune belly, mussels, squid, sardines, etc and love it all.
I like the mussels and sea urchin on kettle chips actually.
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This may under-utilize the tuna given you have high quality product, but you can make a great pasta. I like to do the following:
With one tin of tuna, boil water and plan to use 1/2 pound of pasta - for this recipe, I like the thin spaghetti they are making these days, which is a bit thicker than angel hair.
Sauce:
One box of Cherry/grape tomatoes - cut tomatoes in half
2-4 cloves of garlic - I like to slice the cloves instead of chop
Plenty of good olive oil
Tuna
Chopped parsley
- Heat several tablespoons of olive oil at medium/low heat
- Add garlic and cook for a minute or two
- Add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste
- Add halved tomatoes and cook with garlic for around 10 minutes until softened and a sauce forms
- Turn off heat until the pasta is done
- Add tuna and break up and incorporate into the sauce
When the pasta is done, reserve some water, but add the pasta into the pan and stir. Add 1/4-1/2 of the reserved water as needed. Maybe add more olive oil.
Stir in the chopped parsley. Serve immediately. I like it with Parmesan (sacrilege) and extra crushed peppers. Enjoy!
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Reposted from a prior thread:
Yves Camdeborde’s (former chef/owner of Le Comptoir du Relais and current owner of the Avant Comptoir wine bars) easy and delicious sardine ‘rillettes’ recipe:
1 can of 115 g sardine (87 g drained weight)
About 90 g of cottage cheese
A pinch of turmeric
The juice of half a lemon
Salt pepper
Drain the sardines, pour them in a blender. Add the cottage cheese, turmeric, lemon juice, salt, pepper, (I also add a few shakes of piment d’espelette) and mix. Serve chilled on bread or endive leaves.
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Even if you’re only eating these on toast, a quick upgrade is to whisk up the olive oil/liquid that’s in the tin to emulsify and thicken it into a sauce. A bowl of best-quality rice or farro or other grain makes a great base for good tinned seafood; add some fresh herbs or furikake or chili crunch, and something with acid for contrast (quick pickled red onions or cucumber or capers or olives). Always taste the oil–if it’s good quality you can use it to saute potatoes or other vegetables or to fry rice or to use as the base of a salad dressing or pasta sauce. Shellfish/octopus/squid tinned with good olive oil and garlic are excellent with (previously cooked) little potatoes or pasta, with everything heated up in the oil and garlic. Mmmm…
Check out the tinned seafood cookbooks here: https://rainbowtomatoesgarden.com/product-category/conservas/extras/sardine-servers-and-cocktail-forks/cookbooks-booklets-sardine-servers-and-cocktail-forks/ RTG is one of the best sources of tinned fish anywhere, and the owner Dan is extremely helpful.
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I saw Lidia Bastianich last night making a dish with fresh tuna that’s reminiscent of a more robust version of this, Skillet Tuna with Eggplant and Zucchini in Puttanesca Sauce - Lidia.
If it’s packed in oil I always make pasta.
I love making scrambled eggs using a touch of the oil from tinned mussels escebeche. Then add the actual mussels to the dish right before finishing to warm them up a bit. Simple and delicious.
Tinned mussels are great in any kind of creamy seafood chowder (same w/ tinned oysters).
Ultimate comfort food is mixing in tuna ventresca to a bowl of freshly made macaroni and cheese.
I like making onigiri (sushi rice balls) with canned mackerel in the center (the Patagonia ones are really good for this), with a little sliced green onion for some texture.