Vitello Tonnato (Tuna Veal)

This is one of my favourite recipes from one of my Nan’s (Nonna Camilla). She used to do the most succulent vitello tonnato that you could ever taste and I hope I can give you some hints to what her secrets were. … And don’t worry: it doesn’t have to be veal!

Ingredients
A piece of lean veal, typical for roasting (use pork or turkey as alternative).
500g tuna in sunflower or olive oil (not in brine)
olive oil
12-15 capers (in salt or fresh preferably, but OK in brine)
mayonnaise (get a 500g jar but use less to start with - see Tips 1)
1 tbls mustard (sweet - I never know which type it is!)
salt and pepper
broth

How to prepare
Prepare the meat by gentle boiling it and then cool it down thoroughly. Slice it very very thin (almost ham-like) and leave it on a dish with a bit of broth on it so that it doesn’t dry. Save the broth from the boiled meet for the sauce.

If using salted capers, make sure you soak them in plenty of cold water and if necessary change the water a couple of times before using.

Drain the oil from the tin of tuna first and then put the tuna in a blender. Add 2-3 tbls of fresh olive oil to start with, add the mayonnaise, add the mustard and 7-8 of  the capers. Blend it all together, adding a little bit of cold broth to make the mixture a bit runny. Salt and pepper to taste.

You need to lay the slices of meat covered with the tuna sauce in a tray (see Tips 2). Decorate with a few extra capers and put it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. Lovely when served with lettuces or on a bed of green salad tossed first with some olive oil, salt and a drop of red-wine vinegar. Don’t forget a slice or two of a freshly baked baguette (I would not add butter because the lovely tuna sauce taste delicious on its own on the bread

Tips
Tips 1 - Put the tuna in the blender and start adding half of the ingredients. Blend it all together and taste the sauce. Add each ingredient individually bit by bit, rotating the ingredients, so that you can taste and stop when you feel that you have reached a lovely taste and a smooth, a bit runny, consistency. Notice that the meat is a bit bland so the sauce needs to be quite flavoured, although delicate at the same time.

Tip 2 - Dip each slice of meat in the sauce and lay the slices in a tray. Overlap them slightly, but make sure you don’t have more than one layer otherwise you risk to tear your slices of meat apart when serving them. If the sauce is too runny, the meat will be just wet after dipping it in the sauce. If it is too think, you will have lumps of sauce on it. The right consistency is when the sauce covers the slice of meat, but drips off it slowly if you keep holing the slice up.

Tip 3 - Prepare the Vitello Tonnato the night before so that the sauce has time to soak in the meat. It is always best to keep a cup of sauce to the side so that you can add it just before serving. If you have done your dish with plenty of time to spare, remember that room temperature is the best for it, so take it out of the fridge a couple of hours before serving (notice that this is different if you have prepared it at the last minute!).

My Nan has always been the queen of making the famous “Risotto Giallo”, so loved by us when we were children and now by our children too. Nonna Carmela is now 99 years old and she is still taking charge of the ladle and the spoon when it comes to making risotto for all the family - which means normally 10 or more people! So here I’m sharing her recipe.

Ingredients

Stock - beef or made with water and stock-cubes (Knorr originals only).
Rice -  only the best Arborio quality - 2 fists per person + 1 fist for the pan!
A small bit of onion
25g of unsalted butter
2-3 tbsp of olive oil
25g of powder saffron (for up to 5 people; double the dose if you are cooking for more)
A pinch of salt or some powdered stock
A glass of white wine or champagne - optional
Grated Parmesan cheese - 1/3 tbsp per person

How to proceed

Put the whole piece of onion in a deep non-stick pan, with the olive oil. Heat up gently. When golden, remove the onion and add the rice keeping stirring for a few minutes so it doesn’t burn. In a different pan, keep the stock simmering, ready to be used.

Add the white wine or champagne and let it evaporate on a strong heat, then turn the heat down and start adding the stock a couple of ladles at a time. Keep stirring and let the stock be absorbed slowly, then add some more stock before it dries completely.

Add a pinch of salt or a teaspoon of powdered stock to the rice, but remember that the stock is already salty (especially if made from stock cubes), and that the Parmesan cheese that you will add at the end adds to it too. Too much salt cannot be removed, but too little can then be corrected at the end by adding a bit more.

Normally it takes about 20 minutes for the rice to be cooked in this way, but there are some qualities that are precooked so check the package for instructions on timing.

5 minutes before the rice is cooked, i.e. when it is “al dente”, add the saffron powder and a couple more ladles of the simmering stock. Mix well and continue cooking until the rice is ready. Turn the heat off but make sure that it is not completely dry. Add the butter and the parmesan cheese. Mix well and taste it to check for salt. Let it rest for a couple of minutes and then serve.

 Tips

I know I said that if you put too much salt there is not much you can do, but actually if you keep tasting the rice as you go, if you realise that it is becoming quite salty, you can start adding boiling water rather than stock. This is not the best option, but it is a quick fix that does work Also, add less parmesan cheese at the end and more unsalted butter.

This is a dish that is always very popular with our guests and friends. I never followed a recipe as such, so it is very difficult to give the secret away becuase all the measurements are done to taste and they depend a lot on the ingredients. But here I will try to make it as simple as possible. Please, feel free to ask questions and post comments!

Ingredients for a 20cmx30cm dish, enough for 6-8 people:
8 sheets of lasagne
basil - 4 handful
parmesan cheese - 10 tblsp (freshly grated)
salt
pine-nuts
olive oil - quite a bit
butter
besciamelle or white sauce
a clove of garlic
green french beans - a couple of handful
two potatoes

How To Prepare:
First of all you need to prepare the pesto sauce, i.e. the green sauce. Put the washed and dried leaves of basil in a blender with 4 tblsp of parmesan, a couple of pinches of salt, the clove of garlic, and a good sprinkle of olive oil (at least 4 tblsp). If you have them, add a few pine-nuts. If you use the sauce within a couple of days, add also 50g of butter at room temperature. If you intend to keep the sauce for a few days, leave this ingredient out. You may need to stir the mixture to get the blender going, but when it is creamy, taste for salt. You may also need to add a bit more oil and parmesan or butter if the basil is particularly strong. The sauce alone may taste a bit heavy to some, so do not be put off.
When you have the pesto ready, peal the two potatoes and finely chop them manually. Put them in salted boiling water with the green beans and leave for 10 minutes to cook. Drain, chop the beans roughly and mix them all with the pesto sauce and the white sauce in order to obtain a thick creamy light green sauce. Save some pesto and white sauce to mix for teh final layer (so no beans and potatoes and more white sauce than pesto).
At this point you are ready to put your lasagne together. I always boil the lasagne first. you don’t need to overcook the pasta, but it helps keeping the lasagne light - I also think they taste differently. So, use a wide pan and bring some water to boil, adding salt and a spoonful of olive oil. Boil the sheets of lasagne for about 4-5 minutes. This can be a bit tricky as they can stick together, so I always boil 3 or 4 at a time and keep turning them. I normally run some cold water on them again to avoid them sticking. Oil a rectangular deep dish and lay the base with the pasta sheets, overlapping them just slightly. Cover them with a thick layer of the sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Repeat for a second layer. Add a third layer of pasta and cover with the sauce made of pesto and white sauce, but not beans and potatoes. Also this layer can be thinner. Sprinkle with parmesan chees and add some butter flakes especially in teh corners. Now, pierce the whole dish with a knife or a fork so that air can find its way out while cooking.
Cook in an oven, preheated at 180deg, for approximately 20 -25minutes or until the top is golden.

Serve not too hot. I do not add any side dish, like vegetable or salads, because this is a first course pasta dish and in Italy you eat it on its own. Enjoy your meal!

Here is my recipe for lentils, modified for this last New Year’s Eve:

Ingredients:
1 whole golden onion
300g lentils
1/4 yellow pepper
1 whole carrot
50g butter
3 spoonful of olive oil
200ml tomato sauce
a pinch of sugar
salt and pepper
a stock cube (knorr - original)

How to prepare:
Finely chopp the onion, carrot and pepper. Put in a frying pan with the oil and butter. Add the lentils almost straight away. Let the whole lot fry for a couple of minutes and then add the tomato sauce, the pinch of salt and the stock cube. When it starts simmering add the seasoning to taste. Cook for 30 min or as long as the lentils require (depending on the quality, so check the package).