Vitello Tonnato the Old-Fashioned Way

Vitello tonnato the old-fashioned way is a traditional Piedmontese dish, refined and with a unique flavor. Here’s how it’s prepared.

Ingredients

• 800 g veal eye round
• 250 ml dry white wine
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 bay leaf
• A few black peppercorns
• Salt
• Beef broth as needed

For the tuna sauce:

• 3 egg yolks
• 150 ml olive oil
• 200 g drained tuna in oil
• 30 g salt-packed capers, rinsed
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 5 salt-packed anchovy fillets, rinsed
• Salt, if necessary

Preparation

1. In a suitable pot, place the veal eye round, cover with cold water and add the onion quartered, the carrot, celery, bay leaf and a few peppercorns. Bring to a boil and cook for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, adding white wine and beef broth as needed.

2. Once cooked, let the veal cool in its broth to better absorb the flavors.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the tuna sauce. Start by whisking the egg yolks with the olive oil as if making mayonnaise, adding the oil in a thin stream and stirring vigorously.

4. Add the tuna, capers, lemon juice and anchovies. Blend everything until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous sauce. If it’s too thick, you can add a bit of the veal cooking broth.

5. Slice the veal eye round thinly and arrange the slices on a serving platter.

6. Cover the veal slices with the tuna sauce and garnish with a few whole rinsed capers.

7. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours before serving, so the flavors meld well.

Trivia

The peculiarity of the “old-fashioned way” recipe lies in the use of simple ingredients and the basic (but precise) cooking procedure for the veal, which is then covered with a sauce whose main protagonist is tuna, enriched by the creamy texture due to the mayonnaise-like preparation. Although vitello tonnato may seem like an unusual pairing to those not accustomed to Piedmontese cuisine, it is a well-matched blend of flavors appreciated worldwide.