Golden Pasta Fit for Golden Voice

The Times’ Food Section often receives culinary trade publications in the mail, much as a doctor receives medical literature that is ultimately headed for the exit file.

But when the second issue of Western Chef, the new offshoot of the now-defunct Golden Chef, a publication for professional chefs, arrived in the office recently, I flipped.

There on Page 11 was the recipe for “the favorite pasta dish” of my favorite male opera star, Luciano Pavarotti.

Raimond Hoffmeister, executive chef at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City and publisher of Western Chef, obtained the recipe from a German chef’s trade magazine, Fein Schmecker, when he visited the Continent last year.

I dug into the ingredients. They sang to me--tuna, anchovy, basil and tomatoes. Tomato juice is pumped up with a tomato puree and cup of tomato concasse for substance. Concasse, from the French concasser, is a term for chopping or pounding a substance. When skinned, seeded tomato pulp is finely chopped it is known as tomato concasse. (The term also applies to herbs that are minced on a board with rapid strokes of the knife or cleaver, as well as to meat and to crushed ice when it is used as a lining for chilled foods.)

The sauce is simple. All you do is saute tuna and anchovies with garlic and onions in oil, then add the tomato mixtures with basil. That’s it. Then you mix it with pasta and add Parmesan.

With due respect to Pavarotti’s choice, we suggest using any fish or quick-cooking seafood, chicken, diced beef, lamb in place of the tuna if you want to vary the dish from time to time.

You can also vary the pasta. Spaghetti, angel hair, linguine, bow ties or other shaped pasta can be used.

PENNONI AL TONNO

2 tablespoons corn oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

22 ounces tuna, marinated in oil

2 ounces anchovy fillets, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

3 1/2 ounces tomato puree

1 pint tomato juice

Salt

1 1/2 pounds pennoni (small penne)

1 cup tomato concasse (chopped, skinned tomato pulp)

1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil and add garlic and onion. Cook until translucent, then add tuna and anchovies. Stir gently with wooden spoon 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in basil, tomato puree and juice. Season to taste with salt. Cover and simmer 10 to 12 minutes.

Cook pennoni in boiling salted water until tender. Drain. Turn into large serving bowl. Add sauce to hot pasta and toss to mix well. Top with tomato concasse and mix lightly. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Makes 6 servings.