The Coupon Clipper - Pasta and Chicken of the Sea

The Coupon Clipper scours the specials for the best deals in New York's big grocery stores.

We try not to write about prepackaged items for the Coupon Clipper for various reasons, but mostly because we try not to eat that much of it. But there are a few pantry stuffers that are fundamental to any good kitchen, and guaranteed to be good at any grocery store no matter what your underlying impressions of the institution may be.
See, sometimes good deals can be obscured by their sources. Sure, C-Town has had consistently great specials, but I can understand why some would be leery about buying huge hunks of meat from a place when it is so suspiciously cheap. We’d like to very clear, though, that we’ve never been wronged by C-Town. It’s definitely not in the priciest neighborhoods, and it’s never been particularly clean. But this week, even the neatest freak can have the good price and feel good about it, too.

The first bargain is four packages of San Giorgio pasta for $2. Sure you could very well buy one for $.50, but why not take advantage of the abnormally low price to keep things stocked? Especially when you can get Elbow Macaroni, Cut Ziti, Rotelle, Spaghettini, or just plain old Spaghetti.

If you love pasta as much as we do, then you’ll know that you don’t just need a red sauce to make the meal complete. One of our favorite recipe books is The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces by Diane Seed, which runs through a variety of simple, easy to prepare sauces. There are a myriad of vegetable sauces, but why not take advantage of another special? Cans of tuna are going for 3 for $3, and it’s solid white, not that chunk-lite crap that will ruin your tuna salad. You can even choose if you want it in water or oil.

From there it’s simple. Boil some water for the pasta, and toss it in. You’ll be done with sauce by the time it’s done. Finely mince a clove of garlic and a hand full of parsley and throw in a pan over low heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. After a few minutes add a can of drained tuna, making sure to break up any larger hunks with a fork. When the pasta is finished, around 10 minutes, drain, and add to the sauce. Top with the juice of one whole lemon, 2 tablespoons of butter cut into small pieces, and enough shredded parmesan as you see fit. Mix to combine, and season with some salt.

Does anyone have any simple pasta recipes out there?