Miso Butter Pasta with Tuna and Cabbage

Step 1

Gather all the ingredients.

Step 2

Start boiling 4 quarts (16 cups, 3.8 L) water in a large pot (I used a 4.5 QT Dutch oven). Once boiling, add salt and spaghetti.

Step 3

Stir to make sure spaghetti doesn’t stick to each other. Tip: I usually reduce the cooking time by 1 minute if I have to continue cooking the pasta afterward. Drain if you finish cooking the spaghetti first, but you should be able to cook the rest of the ingredients in 10 minutes while spaghetti is being cooked.

Step 4

While cooking pasta, we prepare the ingredients. Peel the garlic cloves and thinly slice them.

Step 5

Remove the tough core of the cabbage and cut into 1-inch square pieces.

Step 6

Drain the canned tuna. If you use a big chunk, you can cut/break into smaller pieces (optional).

Step 7

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. While the oil is still not hot yet, add the garlic to start infusing. Make sure to coat the garlic with oil.

Step 8

When the garlic is sizzling and well-coated with oil, add the cabbage and coat with the oil for 2 minutes or so.

Step 9

Add the canned tuna and toss it together with the cabbage.

Step 10

Add freshly ground black pepper, unsalted butter, and miso. Stir to mix well and let the butter melt completely.

Step 11

Reserve ¼ cup (60 ml) of pasta water and add to the frying pan.

Step 12

Shake the pan and mix all the ingredients together. Make sure the miso is dissolved while mixing by this time.

Step 13

Add the soy sauce and mirin.

Step 14

When the spaghetti is done cooking, pick up the noodles with a pair of tongs (or you can quickly drain in the sink) and add to the pan. Toss the spaghetti to mix all together.

Step 15

Season the spaghetti with freshly ground pepper. Taste and add salt if needed. The reserved pasta water I added has enough salt so I do not add additional salt here. Serve the pasta to individual dishes. Enjoy!