Main Dish

Pasta alla Carmelina

Name: Pasta alla Carmelina
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Italy · Sicily
Ingredients: 2 × 140 g fresh tuna fillets, cut into bite-sized cubes; 160 g whole wheat or high-protein semolina spaghetti; 1 bulb Florence fennel, thinly sliced (fronds reserved); 1 organic orange, zest and juice; 1 small red onion, thinly sliced; 1 clove garlic, minced; 30 ml extra virgin olive oil; 25 g golden raisins (sultanas); 20 g toasted pine nuts; 8 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped, with black pepper to finish

Tonight's special is Pasta alla Carmelina—a healthy taste of Sicily crafted just for you.

Sicilian fennel and orange tuna pasta — bright, aromatic, high-protein and rich in omega-3s, built without added salt for blood-pressure care.

30 min 2 servings 260 kcal per serving

Ingredients

2 × 140 gfresh tuna fillets, cut into bite-sized cubes
160 gwhole wheat or high-protein semolina spaghetti
1 bulbFlorence fennel, thinly sliced (fronds reserved)
1organic orange, zest and juice
1 smallred onion, thinly sliced
1 clovegarlic, minced
30 mlextra virgin olive oil
25 ggolden raisins (sultanas)
20 gtoasted pine nuts
8 gflat-leaf parsley, chopped, with black pepper to finish

Method

01
Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the sliced fennel and boil for 5 minutes until tender-crisp, then lift out with a slotted spoon — keep the water for the pasta.
02
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and gently sauté the red onion and garlic until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the golden raisins and toasted pine nuts.
03
Add the tuna cubes and sear for 2–3 minutes so they stay tender, then pour in half the orange juice with the zest and let it sizzle into a light sauce.
04
Cook the pasta al dente in the fennel water, about 9 minutes, then drain, reserving a splash of the water.
05
Toss the pasta into the skillet with the tuna, fennel and a splash of pasta water to create a silky, glossy coating.
06
Plate and finish with cracked black pepper, reserved fennel fronds, parsley and extra orange zest.

Why this dish works

Pasta alla Carmelina is built for 2 servings and lands at roughly 260 kcal per plate, with 42g protein, 58g carbohydrate and 16g fat across the recipe. It comes together in about 30 minutes using 10 whole-food ingredients — led by fresh tuna fillets, cut into bite-sized cubes, whole wheat or high-protein semolina spaghetti, florence fennel, thinly sliced (fronds reserved) — so nothing here relies on packaged sauces, refined sugar or ultra-processed shortcuts. That balance is what keeps it a realistic weeknight option rather than a weekend project.

The main dish sits inside our Italy · Sicily collection and carries the High-Protein, Anti-Inflammatory, Low-Glycemic, Blood Pressure tags, so it slots straight into the Smart Recipe Finder when you filter by dietary focus or allergens. Scale the portions in the recipe drawer and the ingredient quantities and macros recalculate together; sync it to your shopping list and the pantry tracker subtracts what you already own before the list is generated.

Cooking and storing it well

Read the method through once before you start — the 6 steps are written in the order a working kitchen would run them, with prep that can overlap grouped together. Hands-free cook mode reads each step aloud and runs the timers, so your phone can stay on the counter. Season at the end rather than the beginning: salt, acid and good olive oil do more for the finished plate when they are adjusted against the cooked dish. Leftovers keep well chilled for two to three days in a sealed container; bring anything dressed or herb-heavy back to room temperature before serving so the aromatics come forward again.

Complete the meal