Today I present you a recipe for a summer dish that I’ve been preparing for years, a rich and tasty first course. Let’s prepare together COLD PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI, TUNA, AND OLIVES, an easy, quick, and delicious summer cold first course with tuna and zucchini! WATCH THE VIDEO RECIPE FOR THIS DELICIOUS PASTA!
I love cold pasta; it’s one of those summer dishes where I can get creative and the more ingredients I add, the tastier it gets! One of my favorites is definitely cold pasta with tuna, zucchini, and olives, ready in no time and delicious to eat cold in summer but also warm in spring.
My secret is to prepare it at least an hour before serving it, so it absorbs the flavors well, and the pasta should not be rinsed under cold water, don’t make this mistake! To cool the pasta, just put it in a wide, shallow container, oil it, and stir it several times; this way it cools down and turns out perfect.
Now follow me in the recipe for cold pasta with zucchini, tuna, and olives; it is really tasty and everyone at the table will love it!
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini
- 8.5 oz canned tuna in oil (well-drained)
- 2.5 oz pitted olives
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- Half lemon juice
- 1 bunch basil
- 1 bunch parsley
- 13.4 oz pasta (whole wheat is also fine)
Steps
To prepare the cold pasta with zucchini, tuna, and olives, start with the zucchini. I used Roman zucchini, which stay sweeter and crunchier, trimmed, washed, dried, and sliced into thin rounds.
Cook them in a pan with oil, salt, and a pinch of pepper for about ten minutes. I cooked them but left them crunchy.
Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water.
Once the zucchini are cooked, set them aside.
Chop the parsley and basil, put extra virgin olive oil, juice of half a lemon, chopped parsley, and basil, a pinch of pepper in a jar, and mix to create a nice dressing for the pasta.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and put it in a baking dish, dress it with the sauce obtained. Also add the zucchini, shredded tuna, and black olives, and mix well to flavor it.
The pasta is ready to be served at the table. You can serve it warm or let it cool for an hour before enjoying it. In this case, I recommend stirring it from time to time.
… Vane’s Tips
You can also use whole wheat pasta if you like, as well as fresh pasta such as orecchiette.
You can replace the tuna with cooked or raw ham.
