Penne with Fresh Tuna and Cherry Tomatoes
By :Instant Pot Italian by Ivy Manning
In this Southern Italian–inspired one-pot pasta, a thick tuna steak cooks to moist perfection at the same time as the penne, cherry tomatoes, and olives. When the cooking is done, break up the tuna into large flakes with a spoon and mix it into the pasta. The sauce will look thin at first glance, but it thickens into a beautiful, clingy sauce upon standing.
Votes: 4
Rating: 4.5
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Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Difficulty Easy
Browse Category Rice & Pastas
Duration 30-60 min
Diet Dairy Free
Cooking Technique Pressure Cook
Main Ingredient Pasta, Tomatoes, tuna
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
4 servings
Ingredients
  • 12 ounces penne pasta dry and uncooked
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1 small sweet onion halved lengthwise and thinly sliced through the root end (about 1 cup)
  • 1/3 cup oil-cured olives pitted and halved
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 inches tuna steak about 1.5 inches thick, 8 ounce
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest finely grated
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Difficulty Easy
Browse Category Rice & Pastas
Duration 30-60 min
Diet Dairy Free
Cooking Technique Pressure Cook
Main Ingredient Pasta, Tomatoes, tuna
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
4 servings
Ingredients
  • 12 ounces penne pasta dry and uncooked
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1 small sweet onion halved lengthwise and thinly sliced through the root end (about 1 cup)
  • 1/3 cup oil-cured olives pitted and halved
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 inches tuna steak about 1.5 inches thick, 8 ounce
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest finely grated
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Votes: 4
Rating: 4.5
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
Instructions
  1. Combine the pasta, cherry tomatoes, onion, olives, oil, garlic, red chile flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and several grinds of black pepper in the pot. Add 2 3/4 cups water and stir to combine. Place the tuna on top of the pasta mixture but do not submerge it.
  2. Lock on the lid, select the Pressure Cook function, and adjust to Low pressure for 6 minutes. Make sure the steam valve is in the “Sealing” position and that the “Keep Warm” button is off.
  3. While the pasta is cooking, stack the basil leaves, roll them up tightly as you would a sleeping bag, and slice crosswise into thin ribbons.
  4. When the cooking time is up, quick-release the pressure. Remove the lid. Add the basil, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the pot and stir, breaking up the fish into bite-size chunks. Season with salt and black pepper.
  5. Let the pasta stand in the pot set in the appliance, uncovered, for 5 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken before serving.
Recipe Notes

The following recipes are excerpted from INSTANT POT® ITALIAN © 2018 by Ivy Manning. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

7 replies
  1. Rdemler
    Rdemler says:

    It says cooking time is 30 min and in the directions there is no mention of 30 min? It only says select pressure cook for 6 min. Am i missing somthing?

  2. Instant Pot
    Instant Pot says:

    Most likely the contributor included time to get up to pressure and to release pressure in as well. You would pressure cook for 6 minutes though.

  3. Janicebernice
    Janicebernice says:

    I used rice instead of pasta with the same amount of liquid. I added a can of green beans and used the liquid from the beans as part of total liquid requirement. I added more seasonings, basil and oregano with red & green pepper (1/4 cup each) chopped small. Yummy!!

  4. Recguy1
    Recguy1 says:

    Like being back in Spain!. Used regular tomatoes (because we still have a lot from the garden) and canned tuna in olive oil. Also replace some of the water with wine.

  5. Liz36ma
    Liz36ma says:

    Love this recipe, i did make some substitutions and it worked well. I did canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh and canned tuna and green olives and it tastes great! I also reduced the olive oil to 2 tbs and that is plenty for this recipie, the sauce came out great.

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