Ingredients

Salt

　　2–3 ounces penne, according to appetite (fusilli or small shells are good, too)

　　1 tablespoon olive oil

　　1 small onion or fat shallot, sliced thin

　　1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced thin

　　2 or 3 ripe plum tomatoes, cut into rough chunks

　　A splash of white wine

　　2 1/2–3 ounces canned tuna in olive oil*

　　10 Italian or Greek black olives, pitted and quartered

　　A generous handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley

　　

Step 1

Bring a large pot of water with a tablespoon of salt to a boil. When it is boiling vigorously, drop in the pasta and stir it around.

　　

Step 2

Heat the oil in a medium skillet, and sauté the onion or shallot 3–4 minutes, until limp. Add the garlic slices and tomatoes and sauté another minute. Splash in the wine and cook down. Break up the tuna, and drop chunky flakes into the pan. Stir in the olives. Add at least 1/4 cup of the pasta water to thin the sauce. When the pasta is done al dente (taste to be sure), transfer it with a big spider to the pan with the sauce, and stir it around, cooking the two together a minute. Add salt if needed, and more pasta water if the sauce is too dry. Spoon the pasta and sauce into a warm shallow bowl, and scatter parsley on top.

　　Cooks' Note

　　This would be 1⁄2 can of an Italian 150-gram canned tuna in olive oil. Use the other half for a sandwich or a salad. If you can find small cans, by all means stock them. The important thing is that the tuna be preserved in olive oil.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.