If you follow me regularly, you will probably know that I started writing this blog with the intention of keeping my Italian culinary traditions alive while living abroad. I LOVE Italian cuisine and even though I cook (and blog about) all kinds of food, my to go to food is always Italian. Living abroad, I often come across Italian dishes that are not made “properly” and keeping this in mind, I have decided to start a new series of posts to show you what Italian cooking is really about. Italian food is strictly linked to the territory, which means it would be more correct to talk about “Regional Italian Cuisine”, rather than “Italian Cuisine” tout court. Each region of Italy is famous for a few distinct dishes. As there are 20 regions… you can easily guess, how many famous dishes we have! 😉 So, I have decided to guide you through the amazing world of Regional Italian Cuisine through a series of posts: every week, I will blog about a traditional dish of a specific region. That said, I am aware that Italians are very jealous of their specialities and that a “traditional” recipe can vary from town to town (even inside a specific region) and even from family to family. So, I will try and be as precise as possible, but bear in mind that there could be minor differences in the same dish according to different recipes. I have already published a few Regional Dishes in the past and you can see the complete list in my Regional Italian Recipes page.
Today I want to start this series, with a dish from Piemonte that I LOVE! Who says comfort food is mostly a winter treat?? This dish is and has always been my comfort food for the warmer months of the year. It is usually served as a main dish and is eaten either cold or at room temperature. It is a very popular dish in Italy and I would say everyone has eaten it at least once. As with all the most common dishes in Italy, every family has its own recipe and the one I am sharing with you today is my family’s version. The sauce is the key in this dish and it is so good that once you make it the first time, you will make it time and time again. It is perfect for sandwiches too and I love it on plain tomatoes as well. For the majority of people the combination of veal and tuna would sound really unusual, but believe me when I say that they go perfectly well together in this dish. The addition of capers and anchovies takes this sauce to yet another level. My advice is to prepare this dish one day in advance and let it sit in the fridge all assembled and ready to serve. This will allow the flavours to develop and come through better. I hope you enjoy one of my favourite summer meat dishes.
Ingredients:
For the meat
1 kg – 2.2 lbs veal girello (eye round)
1 carrot
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 bay leaf
Salt
Pepper Corns
For the sauce (salsa tonnata)
250 gms – 8.8 oz. tuna, canned in olive oil and drained
300 gms – 10.5 oz. mayonnaise, either home made or store bought
5 anchovies
1 heaped tbsp capers (under salt and rinsed)
¼ ladle broth (the veal cooking liquid)
¼ carrot
Salt and Pepper to taste
Start by preparing the meat. Put the onion, carrot, celery stalk, bay leaf, some salt and pepper corns in a big pot filled with water and bring to a boil.
Add the meat and simmer on a low to medium flame until the meat is cooked through. When ready, remove the meat from the broth and keep it aside to cool down.
You can use this broth to make risotto (it is perfect for risotto alla Milanese) and you can also freeze it.
When completely cold, slice the meat very thin (into about 3 mm thick slices). To do this, a slicer machine is the perfect appliance. Keep it aside while you prepare the sauce.
To make the sauce, put all the ingredients (but the salt) in a blender and mix until completely smooth. Make sure to taste and season accordingly as anchovies and capers can sometimes be quite salty already.
Now you are ready to assemble your vitello tonnato. Put a layer of sauce, a layer of meat, another layer of sauce and so on until you run out of meat.
Finish with some sauce and decorate with some of the cooked carrot, sliced.
Serve cold or at room temperature.
perfetto!!! anch’io lo faccio nella stessa maniera!!! ora però mi hai fatto venire la voglia! gnam!!!
I love that your are doing this! I am looking forward to seeing the different foods from the different regions. I know I use all of my own family recipes and my family is mostly from abruzzo so I hope my recipes live up to that area! 🙂
I am so looking forward to your future posts! This particular post is about the most unique recipe I have seen for preparing veal! That picture of the slices and then the plating with the gravy tells me I need to get in the kitchen and make this. First things first however-get my hands on some veal. Thanks for sharing this delicious dish!
Oh come mi piace il vitello tonnato! I love it! And now summer is gone, can you eat vitel tonne’ in summer? by the way in my version I use pork loin or pork butt instead of veal….
Ummm…Vitel Tonel…!!! I always wanted to make this, but I couldn’t because it has tuna and anchovies…and I’m not sure my kids will eat it…and I hate when they give me problems when it’s dinner time. Anyway, your looks delicious…looks so Italian…
Wow…this looks so simple and delicious…what an interesting combination for the sauce!
Manu, what a nice and tasty dish…love the simplicity of it…and looking forward to more posts.
Hope you are having a fantastic week and thanks for this delicious recipe 🙂
What an interesting recipe, Manu. Not sure I would order it at a restaurant, but I surely would love to try it at someone’s home. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Manu: che buon’idea (le ricette regionali). Concordo perfettamente con te che non esiste una cucina italian ma una cucina regionale italiana. Ti seguiro’ volentierissimo e con curiosita’ in questa nuova serie.
Wow, you started with Piedmont!!! 🙂
I love love love vitello tonnato (and I have some friend who have an entire blog dedicated to it :D), but I never made it at home.. time to start! 🙂
I will definitely try this I love how you prepare this it looks easy and the presentation is awesome. And the ingredients are easy to find. Thanks I also love Italian Cuisine.
It was obvious from the very first picture that the sauce was the star of this show! I must say that, for me, this is a VERY unusual recipe, which makes it even more exciting. I’ve never had anything like it. I have to admit that I’m having a hard time getting my head around tuna, anchovies and veal – and then you threw in the mayo! 🙂 BUT, as I’ve learned in the past, some of the strangest combinations make the best dishes and I’m sure that this is one of them so I’m going to have to try it! Really looking forward to your series!!!!
Your photographs are SO inviting, excellent post.
Look forward to the different culinary masterpieces each week!
I can’t wait to see more of you delicious adventures..This one looks wonderful too..Very presentable and tasty..I love that sauce of your..
I love this dish! You make it look so easy! I agree, this dish can be eaten every day.
There’re really so many things to learn about Regional Italian Cuisine! This looks delicious with the sauce and I guessed it must be very good when served chilled. 😉
Looking forward to your future posts! 😀
First of all, those are beautiful photos.
Here in the U.S. it’s the same thing with regional dishes. I would imagine that holds true in most countries.
This dish looks and sounds awesome, and I can’t wait for the rest of them. I really like the way you’ve explained it. You clearly are very proud of your heritage!
I’m so glad you started with vitello tonnato – such an interesting dish, and an unusual too. Not unusual to the Italians, who, like you say, know it well, but nevertheless unusual to who stops to think about it! Veal and tuna? Really? 🙂
To me vitello tonnato has always been a classic holidays dish, especially for Christmas – served as an appetizer, or as one of the many courses.
Great explanation and pictures, as always!
I have never tasted this classic Italian recipe, but I have heard alot about it! It looks delicious and your photos are outstanding! I like the step by step instructions too! Great job Manu!
Ciao Manu! Welcome back. Hope you had a wonderful time away. With my new job and all, I have a lot to catch up on my favorite blogs, but I am working on it. I love vitello tonnato. I posted about it a long time ago (with horrible pics) trying to make it the classic way, without mayo. I was surprised when I fund out that it originally did not contain mayonnaise. I have to admit I prefer it with and yours looks so much better and creamier than mine did (although it was very tasty). Love the look of your veal, you sliced it wonderfully
I love the idea of your new series! It’s such a great tribute to your culture! … and to an amazing country! 😀
What a great series! I love Italian food and have never tasted this dish before. It looks amazing!
Omg! My grandparents came from Piemonte,…I grew up having this and I make it for my family all the time. It is my oldest son fav,…thanks for this!