Spaghetti with olive-oil-poached tuna in tomato-fennel sauce recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• Big fat finishing oil

• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 pound cleaned tuna belly
• Kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 thyme bundle, tied with butcher’s twine

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 4 onions, cut into ¼-inch slices
• 1 fennel bulb, cut into ¼-inch slices, fronds reserved
• Kosher salt, for garnish
• Pinch of crushed red pepper, for garnish
• 5 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced, for garnish
• 1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, passed through a food mill, for garnish
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground (reserved while preparing the tuna), for garnish

For the Tuna
1. Add the fennel seeds to a small sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat. (You need toasted fennel seeds for both the tuna and the sauce, so toss 2 tablespoons in the pan now and save a step later!) Toast the fennel seeds, shaking the pan frequently, until they are very aromatic and start to turn a brighter shade of green, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and grind the seeds in a spice grinder or crush with a mortar and pestle.
2. Season the tuna belly with salt, red pepper, and half the ground fennel seeds (you’re saving the other half for the sauce).
3. Preheat the oven to 200°F.
4. Put the tuna in a medium ovenproof saucepan and cover with olive oil. Toss in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme bundle. Cover and put in the oven; cook for 1 hour. Remove and let cool to room temperature. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container.
For the Sauce and Pasta
5. Coat a large wide saucepan with olive oil and add the onions and fennel; season with salt and red pepper and bring to medium heat. Cook the veggies until soft and aromatic, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Add the tomatoes, the reserved tablespoon of toasted fennel seeds, and 1 cup water to the pan and season with salt. Bring to a boil (BTB) and reduce to a simmer (RTS); simmer for 30 minutes.
7. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions on the package suggest. Taste it: It should be toothsome with just a little nugget of hard pasta still in the center—this is al dente.
8. Remove the tuna from the olive oil, break it up, and add it to the sauce.
9. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce; stir vigorously to combine. Add a drizzle of big fat finishing oil and serve garnished with fennel fronds.