Troccoli al Ragù di Tonno Fresco Pugliese

Puglia — coastal provinces, Gulf of Taranto and Gargano

Troccoli (a thick, square-sectioned fresh pasta from Puglia, rolled with a grooved rolling pin called the troccolo) with a fresh tuna ragù — a coastal Pugliese preparation from the Gulf of Taranto and Gargano where bluefin tuna has been caught seasonally for centuries. Fresh tuna (ventresca or shoulder) is cubed and braised briefly in olive oil, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and white wine — the tuna must not be cooked past the point of just-flaking. The pasta's thick ridged surface holds the chunky, oil-rich sauce perfectly.

• Fresh tuna pasta is also a Sicilian tradition — the Messinese version uses more capers and raisins (agrodolce); the Pugliese version is simpler and more direct → Pasta con il tonno fresco alla messinese Sicilian
• Short noodles with fresh tuna in a tomato-and-olive-oil base — the same Adriatic/Mediterranean tuna-pasta tradition exists along the Catalan coast → Fideus amb tonyina (noodles with tuna) Catalan
• Fresh Bluefin tuna braised briefly in a tomato and olive oil base with starch — the Basque fishermen's fresh tuna preparation is the northern Atlantic parallel to the Pugliese tradition → Marmitako (tuna and potato stew) Basque

Fresh, ocean-pure tuna in olive oil and cherry tomato sweetness; the thick ridged troccoli hold each chunk of fish and let the oily sauce pool in every groove — a coastal dish that tastes unambiguously of the Pugliese sea