Spaghetti alla Bolognese*

*It's not the bolognese you're thinking of.

If you thought spaghetti bolognese was made with meat, we've got some news for you.

Ask for it in Bologna and you'll get a polite frown. The city's famous meat sauce is ragù, and it goes with tagliatelle, never spaghetti. But Bologna's home kitchens have another version, and it's made with tuna.

It came about once tinned tuna became easy to find in the north of Italy. Cheap, quick, and very good on a Friday, when meat was off the table. No mince, no afternoon at the stove. Just a tin, a jar and a packet of pasta.

Five ingredients, about 20 minutes. It's what Italian cooking has always known: when the ingredients are good, there isn't much left for you to do.

Our Organic Spelt Spaghetti is bronze-die cut in Italy from Italian-grown spelt, so the surface is rough enough for the sauce to grip. We've used Olive & Caper Pasta Sauce for a bit of brine, though Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce is lovely too, both made in Tuscany from Italian tomatoes. The anchovies melt quietly into the base and add a savoury depth nobody can quite put their finger on.

Serves: 4
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 400g of The Stock Merchant Organic Spelt Spaghetti
• 1 jar of The Stock Merchant Organic Olive & Caper Pasta Sauce
• 1 jar or 1 tin of The Stock Merchant MSC Tuna Fillets in Organic EVOO
• 4–6 fillets of The Stock Merchant MSC Anchovies in Organic EVOO
• 1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
• Sea salt and cracked pepper
  
• Parsley to serve if you're being authentic, parmesan also delicious, but may come with a side serve of Italian judgement. 

Method

1. Get the water on. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil for the pasta.
2. Soften the onion. Pour all the oil from the tuna jar into a large frying pan over medium-low heat, then add a little of the anchovy oil, or all of it if you like things on the saltier side. Add the onion and a pinch of salt, and cook gently for 8–10 minutes, until soft, sweet and golden at the edges. Don't rush it; this is where the sweetness comes from.
3. Melt the anchovies. Add the anchovies and stir with a wooden spoon for a minute or two, until they dissolve into the onion.
4. Simmer the sauce. Pour in the pasta sauce and bring it to a gentle simmer. Let it bubble for 5–10 minutes while the pasta cooks, until it thickens slightly.
5. Cook the spaghetti. Cook until just shy of al dente. Scoop out a mugful of pasta water before you drain it.
6. Add the tuna. Flake it into the sauce in big chunks and fold it through gently, just enough to warm it. You want pieces of tuna, not tuna paste.
7. Toss it together. Add the spaghetti to the pan with a splash of pasta water and keep tossing for a minute, until the sauce clings to every strand. Add more water if it looks tight.
8. Serve. Twirl into bowls and finish with cracked pepper and parsley or plenty of grated parmesan and olive oil. 

Recipe notes

Which sauce?
We use Olive & Caper. The olives and capers with the tuna and anchovy give it a proper trattoria kind of saltiness. Tomato & Basil works beautifully too, for a softer, sweeter version that lets the tuna lead.

Why spelt spaghetti?
Bronze-die cutting leaves the pasta slightly rough and matte, and that's what the sauce holds onto. Spelt adds a nutty flavour and a proper bite, and it won't go soft if dinner sits for a minute while someone finds their fork.

Use the oil
The olive oil in the tuna jar has been soaking up flavour the whole time, so all of it goes in the pan. Anchovy oil is richer and saltier: start with a little, and tip in the whole tin if you like it salty.

More tuna?
One jar is right for four, woven through rather than piled on. Feeding more people, or just really like tuna? Add a second jar, or reach for MSC Tuna Chunks in Organic EVOO (3-pack) — the same MSC-certified tuna in organic extra virgin olive oil, in a more economical everyday tin. It feeds more mouths for less, and it's an easy one to keep in the cupboard.

Save the pasta water
The starch in it is what turns sauce and pasta into something glossy, rather than spaghetti with sauce sitting on top.

Easy on the salt
Between the anchovies, their oil, the olives and capers and the pasta water, this dish seasons itself. Taste before adding any at the end. You may not need it.

Not an anchovy person?
Try it anyway. Once they melt into the onion they don't taste fishy. They just make everything taste more like itself.

On cheese
In Italy, fish and parmesan rarely share a plate. We grated it over anyway, and we'd do it again. Try it both ways and decide for yourself.