Italian Pasta

Pabasara Samarasekera | March 10, 2015 | Italian, Pasta | No Comments

Ingredients

Penne pasta 340g boiled

5 Tbs butter

2 Tbs Flour

3 Cups of milk

4 Tbs ketchup

1 Tsp oregano (optional)

2 Basil leaves chopped

Hint of turmeric

½ Tsp chili powder

1 Tbs of chili flakes

Salt to taste

4-5 Tbs of cheese grated

1 Cup of water

½ Cup green pepper

¼ Cup of carrots

½ Cup of kale leaves

142g tuna mashed

Two large tomatoes

1 Medium onion chopped

4 Garlic Cloves chopped or paste

4 Green chillies chopped

5-6 Baby/cherry tomatoes cut in half (optional)

Step 1

Making the white sauce

Take 1 medium bowl and heat 2 tbs of butter.
Then add 2 Tbs of flour to that and stir till it get dissolved.
Cook over low heat at least 2-3 minutes. It’ll help to reduce the flour taste. You can use all purpose flour or plain flour for this.
Once color started to change, add 3 cups of milk. Stir well. Make sure to stir it constantly. That’s the spirit of this sauce.
Cook slowly until it get smooth and thick like a sauce.

Step 2

Tomato pulp

Boil two large tomatoes in a bowl over medium heat at least 7-8 minutes. This will help to loosen the skin and also partially cook to preserve color and flavor.
When it’s ready you’ll see the skin of the tomatoes are starting to remove. Then plunge them in to cold water. Let it cool for few minutes and peel off the skin
Using a food processor or a blender puree the tomatoes.

Step 3

Put a large pan on the medium heat and add 3 tbs butter in to the pan and let it melt.
Then add garlic to the the melted butter and fry it seconds till it turns to nice golden color.
Put mashed tuna into the pan and fry well. If you see that there is no enough butter to fry tuna evenly, add 1 more tbs of butter.
After tuna turned into nice golden brown, Add finely chopped onions and fry both together. At this point add ¼ tsp of chili powder, hint of salt and stir well.
Let it cook for another few seconds.
When onions are turning in to golden color, Start adding carrots, green pepper & kale gradually. Instead of these, you can use any other vegetable you have at home.
Then add tomato pulp in to the vegetable mixture and mix.
Next add oregano, basil, turmeric, ketchup, green chilies, chili flakes and rest of the chili powder with another hint of salt. Mix them altogether. You can reduce or increase the spiciness by adding more or less chilies. It depends on how much spiciness you desire.
Let it cook for another 5-6 minutes.
If you see the mixture is getting dry, add ½ cup of water and let it cook.
Once it started to get dry again, add the white sauce you prepared. Stir till it get mixed very well with vegetable mixture. If the mixture looks too thick add some water. If the mixture looks too watery, let it cook little further to get right consistency.
Add grated cheese and mix it again.
Add salt to taste
Gradually add the boiled pasta in to the pan and mix with the sauce mixture.
Turn off the heat and take the pan off.
Finally add baby/cherry tomatoes to the pasta and mix carefully. However it is optional.