We see this dish all over northern Italy on our Italiaoutdoors Italy tours, but it is very common in Piedmont. The following recipe is from a chef in Northern Italy who claimed the origins of the dish were Sicilian. Big families would share a small piece of meat on Sunday. But as fishermen, they had lots of tuna. They cook both together, the tuna cooks more quickly than the meat, falls apart and becomes a sauce. But to date I have found no other authority to support this version of events.

The combination of fish and seafood is a bit uncommon, historically you will find veal, and you will find a sauce with tuna and anchovies, but not often the two together. The idea to combine them emerged in the late 1800s, when canned tuna made it more accessible – especially to landlocked areas like Piedmont. A mid-1950s edition of the classic recipe book The Silver Spoon has two versions, one without mayonnaise, and a second, creamier version with.

Vitello Tonnato is a very versatile dish, perfect as a meat course for dinner on a hot summer night, or as an elegant antipasto. Served cold, it is most often presented with the tonnato sauce spooned on top of the sliced veal. But according to Marcella Hazan, it is best made in advance and the veal sliced and allowed to sit in the sauce for a few hours or overnight, giving time for the flavors to blend and also making this an easy addition to any buffet. Recently, Tonnato sauce became a ‘thing’ with chefs and food writers, who began to put this on everything – sauteed vegetables, leeks, pork loin, roasted turkey breasts. It is great in so many ways, it seems a shame to limit it to just veal!

The theme of a recent meeting of my Newburyport Wine Club was “Putting Piedmont in Perspective”. My co-founder Gary Sullivan selected 6 wines from Piedmont to introduce to the group, and we paired each with a Piedmont inspired dish. I prepared a Tonnato sauce and served it on a small crostini with white beans and a garnish of preserved lemon; we paired this with a wonderful white Arneis from Roero. Arneis is a dry white wine that was traditionally used to soften the local Nebbiolo wines, pre-barrel aging. Almost lost, this grape was rediscovered by local Barolo and Barbaresco producers looking for a white wine to enjoy.

Other ideas for Tonnato:

• Sauteed, roasted, or grilled vegetables: green beans, broccoli, leeks, peppers, chicories like radicchio
• Crostini with white beans; or egg; veal tartare…
• Pork loin
• Turkey breast
• Seared swordfish or tuna
• Use instead of mayo on a burger or sandwich

Vitello Tonnato – Metodo Classico Originale

Veal with Tuna Sauce – Classic Recipe

Serves 4

Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 carrot, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 stalk celery, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1 lb. 4 ounces rump of veal
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup white wine
4 ounces canned tuna, in oil
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
2 anchovy filets
Beef stock
1 tablespoon home made mayonnaise

Saute the carrot, celery and onion in olive oil unti soft, but do not allow to brown. Remove from heat.

Brush the meat on all sides with olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Heat a large saute pan over high heat, then when hot sear the veal on all sides. Transfer the seared veal into a clean oven proof pan and top with the vegetables and white wine.

Note from our chef:

This technique of brushing the meat with oil, rather than putting the oil in the pan, avoids having the oil sitting alone in a hot pan, potentially burning.

Bake at 175°F until the internal temperature is 125°F. ( Approx 1 hour) . Remove the meat and leave at room temperature.

Place the vegetables and the pan juices into a food processor. Add the tuna and some capers and blend. Add a bit of beef stock if necessary to get the desired consistency. Add the mayonnaise, season with salt and pepper. Cut the veal into slices and serve with the tuna sauce.