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Vitello Tonnato Print E-mail
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Friday, 06 July 2007
This classic summer recipe from Lombardy is addictive. Veal is marinated, cooked in stock until tender, chilled, thinly sliced, then dressed with a cool creamy sauce made from tuna, eggs, capers, oil, vinegar, lemon juice and anchovies.
There are several northern Italian recipes that combine veal and anchovies, like carne crude from Piemonte – the Italian steak tartare, made with raw veal or beef, lemon juice, olive oil, seasoning, garlic and anchovies – oh, and dressed with truffle shavings when the local white truffles are in season.

One step over the border into France, and you’re in salade niçoise country – the ingredients of which are pretty much identical to those in the sauce of vitello tonnato. Recipes and methods for this dish vary enormously. This one is a mixture of all the most appealing and authentic parts of lots of different recipes.

Ingredients – Serves 4:
• 1 kilo boneless veal shoulder
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• a few sage and thyme leaves
• 2 cloves
• 4 peppercorns
• handful of parsley
• 1 bottle white wine
• 3 anchovies in salt, filleted (ie, 6 filets)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tin tuna (get a line-caught fillet; it’s no more expensive)
• extra virgin olive oil – about a cupful
• 2 lemons
• handful of pickled capers
• vinegar (I used the vinegar from the caper jar, but you can also use white wine or balsamic vinegar.)

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What to do:
• Marinate the meat in the wine, stock vegetables, herbs, spices, garlic and one of the anchovies overnight or all day. Turn the meat occasionally, so that it all gets marinated.
• Simmer the veal gently in the marinade – initially topped up with water to cover the meat – for one and a half hours. Leave the meat to cool, and strain the stock. While the meat is cooking, hard boil the eggs, cool them under the tap and extract the yolks. Discard the whites for some other purpose.
• Blend the oil, egg yolks, tuna, remaining anchovies, the juice of one lemon and the capers until the sauce is creamy.
• Add some stock to the sauce until you are happy with the consistency. Taste the sauce and add vinegar or more lemon, oil or some seasoning according to your taste.
• Slice the cooled veal thinly and arrange on plates or one large serving platter. There should only be one layer of meat. Pour the sauce all over the veal, and garnish with slices of lemon and capers, and some fresh parsley if you feel like it.

Vitello tonnato tastes even better after chilling in the fridge over night.

 
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