Sicilian Fresh Tuna Meatballs with Pasta
These traditional Sicilian fresh tuna meatballs are easy to make and delicious with pasta, potatoes or just bread! Perfect main course for seafood and fish lovers.
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian, Mediterranean, Sicilian, Southern Italian
Keyword: Bluefin tuna, fresh tuna, Italian recipe, Sicilian food, tomato sauce, tuna meatballs, tuna pasta
Servings: 4
Calories: 670kcal
For the tuna meatballs
- 400 g fresh tuna
- 1 onion (medium size or half a large one) peeled and finely chopped.
- 1 egg
- 3-4 tablespoon breadcrumbs or grated pecorino
- 3-4 fresh mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon pine nuts chopped
- extra virgin olive oil for frying
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoon lemon zest (use an organic lemon)
- all purpose flour to coat tuna meatballs
For tomato sauce
- 500 g tomato passata (puree) or chopped tomatoes (17oz) or 1.5 kg peeled sauce tomatoes (3.5 lbs)
- 10 fresh basil leaves
- 2 garlic cloves peeled
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1-2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Pasta
- 400 g pasta tubes (14oz) or spaghetti. I used genovesone from pastificio dei campi
- salt for cooking water.
Make the fresh tuna meatballs
Cook the pasta
Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Add salt once it starts to boil and bring to
the boil again. Cook the pasta al dente according to the instructions on the packet.
Make the tomato sauce
While the water is boiling and the pasta is cooking make the sauce. Put a tbsp. of olive oil in a skillet or frying pan, add the two peeled cloves of garlic. Once they start to soften add the peeled tomatoes or passata/polpa.
Dilute the tomato sauce with a cup of pasta cooking water, add the basil leaves and cook for about 5 minutes. (fresh peeled tomatoes make take longer to break down. passata or polpa are ready faster).
At this point, add the tuna meatballs and cook them in the sauce for another 10 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking.
Drain the pasta. Return it to the pan or put it in a warmed bowl. Mix it well with some of the tomato sauce. You want to coat the pasta with sauce. Then plate the pasta and add 2-3 fresh tuna meatballs and more sauce. Serve immediately.
These tuna meatballs can be made with swordfish instead or a mix of tuna and swordfish. You can use spaghetti or other types of pasta tubes such as penne, short ziti, paccheri or mezze maniche.
The nutritional info includes pasta.
Calories: 670kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 42g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 152mg | Potassium: 1124mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 2966IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 86mg | Iron: 5mg