Moroccan Tuna Bolognese (TTH)

Tomato Sauce

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, minced
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• Two 28-ounce cans San Marzano tomatoes in juice [ATK says San Marzano is not at all inherently better quality and I take what they say as gospel]
• One 4-inch piece Parmesan cheese rind [Didn't have this]
• 1/4 cup finely diced charcuterie scraps, such as prosciutto or hard salami rinds (optional)
• 4 teaspoons dried oregano
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 18 to 20 fresh basil leaves [I threw the basil into the back of the fridge even though I knew they were a strong possibility that they would freeze and become ruined...  C'est la vie.]
• 5 to 6 leaves from an organic or nonsprayed tomato plant (optional) [Better be]

Tomato sauce mise en place.

Cook onion and garlic until softened over medium heat.

Add tomatoes, mash with potato masher and simmer for 1 hour.

Moroccan Tuna Bologneese

• Three 6- to 8-ounce tuna steaks
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
•  1 carrot, finely minced
• 1 stalk celery, finely minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon Moroccan spice blend [I'm judging you if you need to resort to this] or 1 teaspoon each ground coriander, cumin, and cinamon
• 1 bay leaf
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup dry sherry or red wine
• 2 cups Tomato Sauce
• 1/2 cup pitted Picholine or other green olives, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest, plus more for garnish
• 1 pound Fresh Pasta Dough, rolled out and cut into linguine, [Didn't happen], or store-bought dried linguine
• Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled, for garnishing
• 1/4 cup mixed chopped fresh dill, parsley, and basil [I think I just had parsley]

Mise en place.

Very finely mince one of the tuna steaks and cook in olive oil over medium-high heat until it begins to brown.  Remove with slotted spoon.

This is a utensil I didn't exactly have when I cooked this, but I do now.

Add aromatics (I guess I need to be more explicit here and say this only includes the oncion, carrot, and celery.) and cook until softened.

Add garlic, spices, bay leaf, and salt and pepper.  Cook to toast spices.

Add tomato paste and cook to caramelize.

Add tomato sauce and cooked tuna.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer until the sauce is very thick, 25 to 30 minutes.

Stir in the tuna chunks, green olives, and orange zest, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

Add pasta to the sauce, then add the lemon juice and half the feta and herbs.  Toss until pasta is well-coated.
Sprinkle with remaining feta, herbs, and extra orange zest if I really wanted to bother pulling out the microplane again.

Fresh Egg Pasta (HCE)

Fast Tomato Sauce (HCE)

• Salt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds canned tomatoes, drained and chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper

It's been a rather long time since I could bring myself to buy jarred pasta sauce. Even on occasions where I almost rather not go to the additional trouble of making sauce from scratch, I inevitably do so since... There's no good reason for tomato sauce to have high-fructose corn syrup in it among a million other different things.
Out of Mark Bittman's "20 Quick and Easy Ways to Spin Fast Tomato Sauce", I typically go for a copious amount of tomato paste and dried rosemary/thyme/oregano.


Sauteing onions until they're soft.


A quarter cup tomato paste.


The finished sauce.

Fresh Egg Pasta
Fresh pasta is one of the handful of very foodie things I enjoyed long before I became a bonafide nutcase over food. My first ex-boyfriend John G. exposed me to the wonders of the stuff when we occasionally picked up a batch to heat up at Capone Food in Somerville's Union Square. It was hard to pry me from my favorite pairing Spinach Fettuccine and Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto.
Anyway, I've eagerly looked forward to the day I would actually attempt it myself nearly since I started taking this hobby seriously. And after some trial and error and grumbling from hungry friends, I can proudly say that I've done this at least once. I look forward to mastering the art.

• About 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 whole eggs
• 3 egg yolks

The pasta machine and drying rack that I've procured gradually in the last year through Amazon. Though my sister bought me the pasta machine for my birthday.


Clamped to the side of the table, all shiny and new, and ready for action... Whenever I'm finally ready for action. Which will take some time and trouble on my part.


Oh la di da. I was certainly planning on just using the all-purpose flour I had on hand, but the idea of using actual semolina flour while I was picking up some things for crack pie at JP's Harvest was hard to resist.
No, I stopped the processor after it seemed like it was having trouble processing through the "dough." No, I didn't process until the "dough" formed a ball. Maybe I should have realized my problem here.


Oh the shock when I tried to work these balls of "dough" for my pasta maker.
My friends Joe A, Eric S, and Trista C had all shown up in time to watch my failure. I dumped it all into the trash: fancy Bob Red Mill's flour, free-range eggs, and all. I start making it the old-fashioned way on the table with normal all-purpose flour. I lose an egg to the floor at some point. Joe asks me if I'm improvising while I continue asking Eric to "flour me." Yeah, I was, but at least we didn't have to resort to eating dried pasta from the pantry.


I apologize for not photographing what it took to this this ball of dough, but I couldn't quite document the process pictorially with my hands covered in flour and egg. They all ask me if that's all there's supposed to be and how hungry they are.
Hey, PALS/FOOLS, you guys didn't manage to eat all of this.


Perhaps I'd care more about the holes in the pasta if I was making lasagna with the noodles. I imagine I would just patch up the whole while assembling the dish with more pasta.
Oh I always imagined myself making fresh pasta one day and using a pasta machine!


Eric and Trista helped array the strands of fettuccine on the rack while I passed the dough through the machine.


Almost there.


Pasta and sauce garnished with some fresh Parmesan (extra hard from sitting in the fridge for a few months) and freshly ground black pepper.
Next time I make this I'll probably skip the final, thinnest setting on the pasta machine and flavor the pasta somehow; perhaps spinach, more freshly ground black pepper, or saffron... The possibilities are endless.
And now I know how to make another classic thing I love to eat when I can.