Spaghetti with Lemon Tuna Sauce

I like hot tuna.  And other heavy metal bands <rimshot>.

Over 20 years ago I clipped a recipe out of Family Circle magazine for a white clam sauce recipe (this particular version is not on its website).  For obvious reasons,I had to tweak it a bit to produce the more kosher recipe below.

The tuna sauce fixes up quickly while the pasta is cooking.  You can make it in the microwave if you prefer, but if you are using wine the sauce has to reduce, so there's no real time savings (Or, as Scotty says, "Captain, you kenna change the laws of physics!").  If you prefer not to use wine, then just omit it and skip the reduction step.  But it's really better with wine.  If you are worried about feeding the spiked version to your kids, the alcohol burns off in the cooking leaving behind massive flavor, so don't worry about getting arrested.

Spaghetti with Lemon Tuna Sauce
Serves 4

4 quarts of water
A couple tablespoons kosher salt
1 lb. spaghetti, spaghettini or linguine
1 medium-size yellow or white onion, finely chopped
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. chopped garlic (bottled is fine)
1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup dry white wine
2 cans tuna (white or light) packed in water, undrained
1 Tbl. butter
1 Tbl. cornstarch
Juice of 1 medium-size lemon
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste

Boil  water in a large pot, then toss in salt.  Add pasta and cook according to package directions.

While water is heating, in medium saucepan over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil for 3 minutes or until onion softens.  Add garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and wine.  Bring to a boil, then cook for 5 minutes or until reduced by one-half.  Transfer to a medium bowl and add undrained tuna, breaking up large pieces of tuna with a fork.

Using the same saucepan, melt butter, then add cornstarch and stir constantly for one minute.  Add back the tuna mixture.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat, then stir in the lemon juice and parsley.

Drain pasta, then divide among 4 plates.  Spoon tuna mixture evenly over pasta servings, then sprinkle on Parmesan cheese to taste.