Cold Veal with Tuna Sauce — Vitello Tonnato
A Piedmontese summer classic of slow-poached veal sliced cold and dressed with a creamy tuna-and-caper sauce of mayonnaise, tinned tuna, anchovy, and lemon — the cool meat and sharp tuna sauce a defining Northern Italian summer dish.
Italian
Categories
Nutrition per Serving
Ingredients
For 2 servings
Instructions
Prep
Halve 2 carrots (120g total) and 2 celery stalks (80g total). Peel 1 onion (80g), stud with 2 cloves. Gather 2 bay leaves and 10 peppercorns. For sauce: drain tinned tuna (120g total), mince 2 anchovies, drain capers. Chop 2 tbsp parsley. Measure wine, water, salt, oil, and lemon juice.
Simmer
Place veal in a large saucepan with carrots, celery, clove-onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, wine, salt, and 1.6L cold water. Bring to bare simmer over medium heat—never boil hard. Skim foam. Reduce to lowest heat, cover partially, poach 1 hour 50 minutes until veal reaches 62°C internally with slight pink centre. Meat should be very tender.
Rest
Transfer veal to cold water for 5 minutes to halt cooking. Pat dry thoroughly. Wrap tightly in cling film, refrigerate minimum 30 minutes until firm enough for thin slicing.
Build
While veal chills, combine drained tuna, mayonnaise, minced anchovies, 2 tbsp capers, 2 egg yolks, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and black pepper in a processor. Blend until smooth. With motor running, drizzle in 4 tbsp olive oil to emulsify into thick, spoonable sauce. Taste and adjust lemon juice for sharp, salty creaminess.
Slice
Unwrap chilled veal. Using a sharp knife, slice across the grain into 2–3mm slices as thin as possible. Keep slices intact for layering.
Plate
Spoon thin tuna sauce layer onto plates. Lay veal slices in slight overlap, nearly edge-to-edge on each plate. Generously spoon more sauce over veal to cover. Scatter remaining 2 tbsp capers and parsley between plates. Drizzle 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil per plate, arrange arugula leaves alongside, tuck lemon wedges beside. Serve immediately.
Recipes use AI and Edamam. Always check for allergens before cooking. Spotted something wrong—email us at hello@grubplanit.com.