Tuna Puttanesca

I normally don't try recipes with fancy names. In my world of stereotypes, fancy names mean something is complicated, expensive, and pretentious, adjectives I prefer to avoid. However, my sister shared this recipe for Linguine with Tuna Puttanesca with me & it's really, really great (mostly because it's pretty simple, economical, and only sounds pretentious). Plus the recipe calls for four cloves of garlic. WIN!

Here's the real recipe. I've tweaked it a bit for my purposes so the only "complicated" ingredient is the capers, so who knows, it might not even be authentic Puttanesca anymore. Also, I prefer a higher ratio of saucy stuff to my pasta, so I halved the pasta amount. With that tweak, it makes about 3-4 servings.

Tuna Puttanesca, my style

6 oz or so of whatever pasta is sitting around
2 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
2 T capers, drained
1/2 cup or more roughly chopped black or kalamata olives
1 normal size can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 can tuna, drained (I used water packed)
salt to taste

Make the pasta according to the directions.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until slightly toasted, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the capers and olives and fry 2 more minutes. Add can of tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and salt to taste and cook until the sauce thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tuna, breaking it up with a fork, and season with salt.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water, and return it to the pot. Add the sauce and the reserved cooking water and toss.

Here's the batch I made tonight. I just got back from Utah & had all the ingredients on hand except the olives, so those are missing. I like the salty flavor the olives add, but it's still quite tasty without.