Tonight’s meal comes from Fitness Food (hey Carrie, try this one!) — whole wheat pasta is tossed in a creamy sauce made with ricotta cheese, arugula, and basil, and tossed with tomatoes and tuna. This was a very quick meal to make.

Lisa says:

Whoa, this is delicious!

Chris says:

I like the sauce, it’s almost like a pesto.

Lisa says:

Pasta with a pesto-ish sauce and tuna? This sounds a dish made for Abbie…

Chris says:

Totally — though she’d certainly add peas. Anyway, enough about her! I like the arugula.

Lisa says:

So it’s in the sauce, and then some extra is just tossed with the pasta?

Chris says:

Yep — it gets all wilty and intense. Good stuff.

Lisa says:

Good to stuff in our mouths, you mean…

Fettucine with Ricotta & Tuna
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13 oz whole-wheat fettuccine
4 small ripe tomatoes, each peeled and cut into 8 wedges
3 large handfuls baby arugula
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red hot pepper, finely chopped
1 large handful basil
1 1/2 cups smooth low-fat ricotta
15 oz can tuna in water, drained

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pan and toss in the tomatoes. Stir to combine.
Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add the garlic and chili pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add three-fourths of the arugula leaves and cook for about a minute until it wilts. Remove from the heat and add everything in the pan into a food processor, along with the basil and ricotta. Process until well combined, adding enough of the reserved pasta water to thin a bit.
Toss the ricotta sauce and the remainder of the arugula leaves through the pasta and tomatoes. Break up the tuna with a fork and toss through the pasta as well. Garnish with additional basil, if desired, and serve.

4 hefty servings

This seems to be an ideal post for this week’s Presto Pasta Nights!