On Wednesday nights my mom would work late, leaving my sister and I under the care of our father. Often times, we would put on elaborate dances, twirling around in our nightgowns to classical music, us being around 4 and 7 respectively. To feed his hungry dancers, my father would serve us something called “Pressman pasta sauce”. At the time I thought my father invented this dish: crushed tomatoes and canned tuna, sometimes mixed together with capers and kalamata olives. This was perfect, especially in the middle of cold winter and always felt like a special Wednesday night treat. I never thought to question that this was truly an original pasta my father created and named after our family. That was, until today when I was looking for something to cook. I was having a bit of a down day, it has been cloudy and I was reading all day. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my work that I forget to eat and today was one of those days, finding myself cranky and hungry at four o’clock. Wanting to make something quick, easy, and filling, I consulted The Classic Italian Cookbook‘s first course pasta section. Surprisingly, there it was: Pressman pasta sauce, almost exactly. I have no doubt in my mind that my father knew that this was Hazan’s recipe as this cookbook used to be his. Even though I now know that that this is not actually “Pressman pasta”, it still hits the spot as a nostalgic comfort food.
RECIPE
- 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- 1 1/2 cups canned Italian tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with their juiced
- 10 pounced Italian tuna or domestic tuna packed in oil, drained
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound spaghetti
In a skillet, sauté the garlic, with all the olive oil, over medium heat until it has colored lightly. Add the chopped parsley, stir and cook for another half minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and their juice, stir well, lower the heat, and cook at a steady, gentle simmer, uncovered, for about 25 minutes, or until the tomatoes separate from the oil.
While the tomato sauce is simmering, drain the tuna and break it up into small pieces with a fork. When the tomato sauce is done, add the tuna into it, mixing it well into the sauce. Add just a light sprinkling of salt, bearing in mind that the tuna is already salty, add pepper, and cook at a gentle simmer, uncovered, for five minuets. Taste and correct for salt, turn off the heat and swirl in the butter.
Drop the spaghetti into 4 quarts of boiling salted water and cook until al dente, very firm to the bite. Drain and transfer immediately to a warm serving bowl. Mix in all the sauce and serve immediately.
Notes
This sauce turned out surprisingly sweet, a little too much for my taste. I think that adding more garlic or the capers and kalamata olives that my dad would add to get some sharp flavors to cut through the tuna and tomato. I am also not a big fan of spaghetti as a pasta shape and used a shape called conchiglie instead, it holds sauce better as well.
Afterthoughts
While this is a good simple pasta dish, Hazan’s version does not have the needed acidity or kick that I think this dish requires. Something about the flavor or tuna and tomatoes together is very sweet and the texture is also somewhat uninteresting. Adding capers or something else with standout flavor and a good texture really makes this dish pop. Needless to say, I think I prefer the Pressman version over the Hazan.
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