Sesame Tuna Pasta: A Stupidly Simple Supper

Yep, that's going to be a new category: Stupidly Simple Suppers.  It'll be searchable!!

This recipe might be stupidly simple, but finding the time to blog about it was... less so.  Apparently, here's another post I started but didn't finish.  So get into your Delorean and head back to February 2014!!

Life is settling into a rhythm here.  Wake up, feed baby, get dressed, go to work, come home, feed baby again, feed us grownups, then maybe catch a bit of TV or a nap or see some friends, then blessed sleep.  Not a bad routine, but it doesn't leave a lot of time for fancy, multi-step dinners (or time for the cleanup thereafter!)

Enter these recipes.

My coworkers sometimes tease me, saying that I downplay the ease of certain recipes.  Mainly, this has to do with chopping.  I remember seeing a commercial for pre-cut potatoes once that made it seem like it took, quite literally, ALL DAY to chop a few spuds up for dinner.  At the time, I thought, "you can't be serious..."  but now, I understand a bit better (though I'll be damned if I start chopping veggies at work...)

This takes seriously minimal chopping.  I've played with this (fellow Blogspot user's!) recipe a few times, especially after a big sesame craving during pregnancy; I think this hot iteration is my favourite.  While I like chicken, Hubs doesn't, so I really liked this (much easier) tuna version.  It's a far cry from tuna noodle casserole (not that there was anything wrong with that, Ma, I swear...)  Try it out (except you, Ni, and all others with a sesame seed allergy).

Sesame Tuna Pasta

Serves 4

Adapted from weekofmenus.blogspot.com

• 1 lb rigatoni pasta (or similar short pasta; farfalle also works very well!)
• 2 cans of tuna packed in water, drained (chunk light is what I usually use; feel free to up the quality!)
• 1/3 cup canola, safflower or other mild tasting oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, cut julienne (or chopped finely, if you're me)
• 1 cup of green onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup roasted sesame seed
• Black pepper to taste
• 3 cups washed baby spinach
• 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes

1. Boil and cook pasta according to directions. Make sure to salt the cooking water. Drain pasta and just leave it in the colander. 
2. Return the pasta pot back to the stove. (You don't need to wash it.) Add the canola oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, peppers, and rice wine vinegar. Heat over low heat until the honey is dissolved and the peppers are softened.
3.  Remove from heat and toss in the pasta. Add the tuna, scallions, black pepper, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. Toss well to coat all the ingredients. Toss the spinach in at the last minute, so it only gets slightly wilted.
4. Either serve hot, or chill down and serve as a cold pasta salad (which I did for my coworkers at a potluck!)

Now that I've taken this little trip down recipe memory lane, I'm going to add this to my refridgerator-door-menu for next week.  Somehow, just knowing what I'll be cooking each night makes it seem like a LOT less work (maybe I'm mentally preparing on my drive home...?)

Thinking about cooking for the week ahead,
-Honeybee

PS- I took this pic of Baby G the day after making this pasta; he's giggling due to tickles at his 6-month well child doctor's visit.  Compare with previous post.  How time flies...