Orecchiette with Tuna, Olives and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This pasta dish celebrates the flavours of the Mediterranean and it only takes 15 minutes to make. Sun-dried tomatoes and olives are natural flavour bombs and an easy win to create incredible dishes. Here I combined them with a bit of chilli, fresh parsley and tuna fillets to make a quick and easy pasta that will save your last minute week night meal. To make it vegan you can leave out the tuna out and it’s still delicious, or you can replace it with chickpeas instead. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 200g orecchiette
• 160g tuna fillets (or tinned chickpeas for the vegetarian version)
• 70g mixed green and black olives
• 3 sun-dried tomatoes 
• 2 small shallots
• ½ a fresh chilli  
• 20g fresh parsley  
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, chilli, shallots and olives. Bring them all together in the middle of the chopping board and give them a final chop. 
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and cook your pasta. 
3. Meanwhile add a generous drizzle of olive oil to a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped ingredients to the pan, give them a good stir and gently fry for about 5 minutes until fragrant. Then add a ladle of the pasta water to the pan. 
4. Add the tuna fillets to the pan and break them up slightly. If you're using chickpeas instead of tuna, drain them well before adding them to the pan. Gently mash them a little with a fork.
   
5. Add a little bit more pasta water and then add in the cooked orecchiette. Give it a good stir or toss in the pan and serve up. Garnish with parsley leaves and enjoy. 

Watch the recipe video

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