Tuna Pantry Pasta

A quick hello, some life updates, and the most comforting pasta I reach for every week

Jun 20, 2025

For someone who eats pasta on a weekly (nay, daily) basis, it’s a bit weird that I’ve only shared one pasta recipe on here so far. I often reflect on what I’m drawn to write about on here, and it often seems to be more elaborate dishes that require time and patience. Ones that tap into my cultural heritage or are nostalgic to me for one reason or another. It’s not necessarily how I cook on a random Tuesday. Which is ironic, given the name of this newsletter, as my pantry is where I find most of my inspiration. I’m often struck by the inventiveness that comes with setting myself the goal of cooking only with what I already have — be it in my pantry, fridge, or freezer.

I am dedicating this post to my friend Helena, who I recently caught up with over our favourite South-East London pizza Dinner For One Hundred in Brixton. Helena is a wonderful up-and-coming DJ under the alias Mummy Long Legs. We reflected on how nice it is that we both took our passions seriously last year — me with cooking and writing, her with music and DJing — and how we now get to share the ride of figuring it all out alongside our day jobs, swapping both the successes and the challenges as they come. Helena has been incredibly supportive of my writing since day one, and after our catch up, she said she’d love to read a post about what to do with all the ingredients she has hanging about in her pantry — in a bid to shop less and get more creative with her cooking. I hate to admit it, but I actually have several unfinished drafts about different pantry ingredients and how I would use them up. So today, for Helena — who I hope is still pescatarian — I’m sharing the most reliable and comforting pantry pasta I know: tuna pasta.

The truth is, I haven’t been cooking much for myself lately or thinking about things I want to try and write about as much. I’ve been eating on the go, cooking up whatever leftover veg I had in the fridge, mostly having salads or tacos as we’ve been having an early heatwave in London. I’ve also been feeling like I’m burning the candle at both ends lately, in that classic pre-holiday scramble of making sure everything gets delivered on time at work, while also enduring the long and admin-y process of applying for UK citizenship. To anyone who has ever dealt with visa and immigration stuff anywhere I salute you. I now possess the most useless trivia (though I suppose it may come in handy at a random pub quiz someday). Things like: the names of all of Henry VIII’s wives, which king hid in an oak tree (Charles II), who the Whigs were, and that golf originated in medieval Scotland.

In the midst of all of this, I hosted my first monthly dinner of the Around the Table series — which included menu planning, sorting out tableware, running around town getting groceries (because ordering online just feels too easy I suppose), and prepping and cooking for at least two days. All because I’m an overachiever who just wants her guests to feel nice and have the best experience. It was an incredibly fun thing to do, and I can’t wait to host the next group of people in July — but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it was also time-consuming. I’ll dive deeper into why I’m even doing this, share some practical tips on how to host a bigger group for dinner, and post the full Greek-themed menu in my next piece — so stay tuned!

And to top it all off, since May I’ve been stage-ing (trialing) at a hip Dalston restaurant. Meaning every Friday or Saturday, I get to work in an actual professional kitchen (!) and learn from the chefs there. It’s such a dream come true, but it definitely requires a lot of bandwidth to do alongside my day job — not to mention, it’s physical labour I haven’t done since my uni hospitality jobs days. I’m beyond thankful to the team at Albers, who took a chance on me like that. I couldn’t have landed in a more friendly or welcoming kitchen for my first time. I’ll share more about the stage along with the funny coincidence that led me to this gig in a future post — for now, let’s just say it was kismet.

Because of all of this, I think I had what they call a writer’s block. Which is fine — and totally normal — but when that happens, I begin to question it all. Not to be too woo-woo about it (though I probably lost some of you at kismet), but as an Aries, I have a natural predisposition to start things quickly, get overly excited, and pour all my energy into them. But equally, to drop them just as quickly — especially when they begin to feel more like a chore or obligation than something shiny and new. I suppose if you’re writing a newsletter, you do have a kind of obligation to the lovely people who read it. When I’m not writing, I feel like I’m letting someone down — even if that someone is just me. I often feel that creeping “oh no… not again…” feeling, as this project has been one of the few I’ve managed to sustain and nurture — and keep returning to with new ideas. I’m incredibly proud of myself for that. Since writing my last post — which was so well received (thank you!) — I’ve hit 100 subscribers. A target I didn’t even know I had, but when it happened, I felt genuinely accomplished, and again, thankful I haven’t dropped this writing thing quite yet.

A big hello to everyone who recently subscribed to Pantry Diaries — I hope you stick around! If you’re new here, I wrote this intro note about myself, the newsletter, and what I tend to write about :)

Now that all the stress has eased and my cortisol levels are returning to normal, I finally felt the urge to write on here again. Thank God. It helps that I’m now officially on leave for two and a half weeks (!) I’m currently in Poland and then off to Spain. This time I’m travelling with my closest family and have done only minimal research into the place we’re going or restaurants worth visiting. But you can still expect a Food Travel Diaries from me as I enjoy writing those so much. I can’t wait to split my days between sea dips, sunbathing, reading and eating so much seafood that I’ll probably need a break from it for a few months. Mostly I’m looking forward to spending time with my family, and especially with my little nephews.

Now let’s dive into the recipe part of this post.

To me, pasta is such a pantry staple — the most reliable and easiest thing you can cook for yourself or others. In fact, pasta was the first thing I ever learnt to cook. Well — not exactly pasta, but rather store-bought tortellini. My mum taught her teenage daughter to pan-fry them with some garlic and olive oil, cover them with parmesan, and enjoy as a quick after-school dinner if she couldn’t get home in time to cook for us. The next thing I learnt, and another weekly staple at our house, especially towards the end of the week when the fridge was looking a bit empty was Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. Like the tortellini, the whole meal came together in 15 minutes or so — just as long as it took to boil water and cook the pasta, gently fry some garlic and chilli in olive oil, and mix the pasta with a bit of starchy water for a glossy sauce. Heaps of parmesan would be added at the end, as would a squeeze of lemon, lots of cracked black pepper, and some chopped parsley. I suppose by adding all of the above some Italians would say it ceases to be the classic aglio e olio which literally translates to garlic and olive oil. It’s still my favourite pasta to cook — especially when I’m tired after work or only have 30 minutes to eat before heading out. Consistently, it’s sustained and comforted me using minimal ingredients, time, and effort. A perfect pantry pasta, if you will. However, because I basically just gave you the recipe above (and frankly, that pasta doesn’t need a proper recipe), let me introduce you to my second favourite pantry pasta that I reach for almost every week: Spaghetti al Tonno, or how I simply call it: tuna pasta.

Tuna and tomatoes are two canned goods that are always in my pantry. As is olive oil, garlic, olives, and capers. There are two versions of this pasta. One is what I call a winter tuna pasta, that uses whole can of tomatoes and a splash of red wine. The other is the summer version — for when you can get your hands on fresh tomatoes (though I’ve also successfully made it with half a can of tomatoes when I was short). Both versions are equally comforting, which makes this dish an all-year-round pantry pasta.

So without further ado, I give you my go-to tuna pasta. This time using cherry tomatoes — best eaten al fresco, in the sun, with cold white wine or a lager.