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Add the fennel seeds to a small saute pan and bring to medium-high heat.
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2
(You need toasted fennel seeds for both the tuna and the sauce, so toss 2 tablespoons in the pan now and save a step later!)
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3
Toast the fennel seeds, shaking the pan frequently, until they are very aromatic and start to turn a brighter shade of green, 3 to 4 minutes.
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4
Remove from the heat and grind the seeds in a spice grinder or crush with a mortar and pestle.
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5
Season the tuna belly with salt, red pepper, and half the ground fennel seeds (youre saving the other half for the sauce).
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6
Preheat the oven to 200F.
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7
Put the tuna in a medium ovenproof saucepan and cover with olive oil.
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8
Toss in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme bundle.
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9
Cover and put in the oven; cook for 1 hour.
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10
Remove and let cool to room temperature.
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11
Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container.
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12
Coat a large wide saucepan with olive oil and add the onions and fennel; season with salt and red pepper and bring to medium heat.
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13
Cook the veggies until soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes.
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14
Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
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15
Add the tomatoes, the reserved tablespoon of toasted fennel seeds, and 1 cup water to the pan and season with salt.
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16
Bring to a boil (BTB) and reduce to a simmer (RTS); simmer for 30 minutes.
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17
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.
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18
Add the pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggest.
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Taste it: It should be toothsome with just a little nugget of hard pasta still in the centerthis is al dente.
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20
Remove the tuna from the olive oil, break it up, and add it to the sauce.
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21
Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce; stir vigorously to combine.
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22
Add a drizzle of big fat finishing oil and serve garnished with fennel fronds.
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23
San Marzano tomatoes are, as the name suggests, from San Marzano, Italy, outside of Naples.
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24
Sweet and delicious, these canned tomatoes are naturally very low in acid.
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25
Sometimes youll notice people add a pinch of sugar to tomatoes when making saucethis is not to sweeten the sauce so much as to offset the acid in the tomatoes.
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26
When youre using San Marzano tomatoes, this isnt necessary because theyre naturally super-sweet and low in acid.
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However, for this same reason, they need a lot of salt to bring out their best flavor .
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accept it and move on.
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31
San Marzano tomatoes are perfect for sauce, and they work beautifully with my favorite piece of kitchen equipment: the food mill.
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Its super-old school but I love using a food mill to puree tomatoes because it lets the seeds slip through, leaving all the big-money stuff up top.
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Remember, when you put your tomatoes through a food mill, be sure to scrape the pulp off the bottom to get every last bit of tomato-y goodness!
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34
This is the stuff that will help thicken the sauce, so you dont want to leave it behind.
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35
Got it?
