Tuna Reginetti with Truffles
In college, Tuna Helper fed me through a few meals. I can honestly say I haven’t had it since (which is over 2 decades), but I made this Tuna Reginetti with Truffles as an homage to that boxed classic. I used reginetti, which is basically a baby version lasagna noodle, and I had to use Italian mascarpone and bougie it up with some black truffle I’ve been meaning to use. There you have it — Tuna Helper for grown folks.
Ingredients:
1 pound boxed reginetti (or you could fettuccine, tagliatelle, or malfadine)
1 cup chopped onions
16 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
4 ounces mascarpone
10 ounces canned albacore tuna (in water), drained
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
3/4 cups parmigiano reggiano, divided (1/2 cup for sauce and 1/4 cup for topping)
Optional: 1 black truffle
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt & black pepper
Steps:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 pan with EVOO.
In a large sauté pan, heat up a few tablespoons of EVOO over medium high heat. Add in your chopped onions, lightly salt and pepper, and cook until soft and translucent. Add in the mushrooms, lightly salt, and cook for 5 minute until the mushrooms are cooked down.
In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Drop your pasta in the salted water and cook 1 minute before al dente. Don’t worry, it will finishing cooking in the oven.
Add in the AP flour to the mushrooms and onions, and cook for 1 minute. This will cook out the raw, grainy, flour taste. Add in the milk and simmer until thickened. Add in the mascarpone and stir until the cheese completely melts. Add in canned tuna (remember to drain it) and the frozen peas. Reduce the heat to low until the pasta finishes cooking.
Drain your pasta. Add the noodles to the sauce along with 1/2 cup of the parmesan. Toss to make sure everything is coated.
Transfer everything to your baking dish and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of parmesan. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.
To serve, spoon a good portion on a plate, and shave all the truffle you want on it. Sit back, relax, and know that you’ll never make this out of a box again.
