Vitello Tonnato
Preparation and cooking time: 20 minutes
This is properly made with a veal roast that is braised for hours, then sliced thinly and served with the sauce. This is my shortcut version.... Summer cooking! I've included the traditional Tonnato Sauce as well as a version using commercial mayonnaise rather than the raw egg.
Ingredients:
- 6 - 8 veal scallops, sliced thinly, 340gr, 12oz
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
Instructions:
- Heat chicken stock in a medium skillet.
- Add veal slices, a few at a time and poach briefly, until cooked through. If they are very thin and the stock hot, it should only take a few minutes per slice.
- Remove and cool.
- Reserve stock and allow to cool; remaining stock can be frozen.
Tonnato Sauce Traditional Version
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup good olive oil, 162gr, 5.7oz
- 1 egg yolk If you are uncomfortable with the raw egg, make the mayo version. Don't try an egg substitute, 17gr, .6oz
- 6oz canned tuna, packed in oil - the best you can find, do not use fresh tuna, 170gr, 6oz
- 3 anchovy fillets (or the equivalent in anchovy paste), drained and rinsed, 12gr, .42oz
- 2 tbs fresh lemon juice, 30gr, 1oz
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard,
- 2 tbs capers, drained, 17.2gr, .6oz
- 2 tbs cream or milk or more poaching liquid, 30gr, 1oz milk
- 2 - 6 tbs of the poaching liquid, 56gr, 2oz
Instructions:
- Put 1/4 cup oil, egg, tuna, anchovies, 1 tbs capers, mustard and lemon juice in the blender. Cover and blend on high speed a few seconds, until pureed and smooth.
- Remove 'cap' from blender top and, with blender running slowly, pour in the rest of the oil. Sauce should be thick and smooth and total blending time not more than 10 - 11 seconds.
- Pour into a bowl. Slowly stir in the cream or milk.
- Add some of the cool poaching liquid, 1 tbs at a time until the sauce is the consistency of very thick cream.
- Stir in the rest of the capers. If you prefer you can purée all of the capers - which I did, (albeit, accidentally).
Assembling the Vitello Tonnato
- Pour a thin layer of sauce to cover the bottom of a large platter or baking dish.
- Lay the cooled veal slices over the sauce, trying not to overlap. If you must overlap put a layer of sauce between the meat.
- Pour the rest of the sauce over the veal, smoothing it to cover the veal completely.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, all day is better. You can garnish the platter with a few cherry tomatoes for color when serving...
Tonnato Sauce, mayonnaise version
Ingredients:
- 6oz (180gr) tuna, packed in oil - the best you can find, do not use fresh tuna, 170gr, 6oz
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 118gr, 4.2oz, full fat version
- 3 anchovy fillets (or the equivalent in anchovy paste), drained and rinsed, optional, 12gr, .42oz
- 1 1/2 tbs lemon juice, 22.5gr, .8oz
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 2 tbs capers, drained, 17.2gr, .6oz
- 4 - 8 tbs of the poaching liquid, 84gr, 2oz
Instructions:
- Put all ingredients, except poaching liquid, into a blender and purée until smooth. Pour into a bowl.
- Add some of the cool poaching liquid, 1 tbs at a time until the sauce is the consistency of very thick cream.
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Note: Nutrition info assumes all of the veal; half of the Sauce
Nutrition Information |
Nutrition Information Mayonnaise Version Recipe serves 2 Entire Recipe / per serving Calories: 922 / 461 Total Carbohydrates: 4 / 2 Dietary Fiber: .5 / .25 Total Fat: 115 / 57.5 Saturated Fat: 10 / 5 Cholesterol: 322 / 161 Protein: 92 / 46 Calcium: 85 / 42.5 Sodium: 1461 / 730 |
General Technical Details and Disclaimer:
Measurements in this color are actual measurements used for calculation. If there are no values the nutritional numbers were simply too small.
I try to be accurate, but I do not guarantee it. I use 'grams' as the unit of weight; with an approximate conversion to ounces.
My information comes from my own digital, computerized scale and the USDA Nutrient Data Library: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
