Capers, Eggs, Meat, Tuna

Veal in tuna sauce – Vitello tonnato

A classic Italian antipasto, usually served for special occasions. Despite its sophisticated look, the recipe only requires to simmer a whole veal rump and dress it with a homemade tuna and egg sauce. The combination of meat and fish is delicious!

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour and 10 min

$35-40 total*

10-12 people

Ingredients

For the meat:

2 1/4 pounds (1 kg) veal rump cut
1 onion, peeled and sliced into quarters
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 celery stalk, cut into 3 parts
1 big carrot, peeled and cut into 2 parts
2 sage leaves

2 bay leaves
2/3 cloves
1 cup (250 ml) white wine
8 cups (about 1 liter) of water, more to cover the meat while boiling
salt, to taste
1 teaspoon of whole peppercorn

For the sauce:

3 eggs, boiled (cook for 12 minutes)
4 salted canned anchovies, pat dried with a paper towel
2 cans of tuna (about 3/4 pound – 320 g) packed in olive oil, drained
1 tbsp salt-packed capers, rinsed and drained
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup (250 ml) meat broth (use the water in which the veal is boiled)
To garnish: caper berries

Preparation

Place the rump cut in a dutch oven or heavy pot with the onion, carrot, garlic, celery stalk, sage, bay leaves, cloves, salt, and peppercorn. Add the wine and cover the meat with water.

Simmer the meat for 50-60 minutes at low-medium heat, once the water starts to boil. During the cooking time, remove the foam that forms on the surface with a skimmer.

Meanwhile, prepare the tuna sauce. Separate the hard-boiled egg yolks from the whites. Place the hard-boiled yolks, tuna, anchovies, capers, oil, white wine vinegar, and lemon juice in an immersion hand blender container and blend all the ingredients until you obtain a smooth cream.

When the meat reaches 130-134 degrees F (measured with a cooking thermometer in the center of the meat), remove it from the water and set it to cool—Reserve 1 and a half cups of the broth into a bowl.

Let the meat cool down at room temperature, and then place it in the fridge for 2 hours. This procedure will make the meat easier to cut!

Stir the filtered reserved broth into the egg and tuna sauce. 1 cup should be sufficient, but you can use slightly less or more according to the thickness you want to obtain.

Slice the meat thinly and lay the slices out on a platter. Spread the sauce over the meat and garnish the platters with caper berries.

Tips & notes

A longer version of this recipe requires a marinade of the meat: place the meat in a container with the onion, carrot, garlic, celery stalk, sage, bay leaves, cloves and peppercorn. Add the wine, cover and marinate in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, turning the veal occasionally. Then remove the meat from the marinade and filter the wine. Place the meat and the wine in a dutch oven, add water and bring to a boil. Cook for 50-60 minutes
Store the meat in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Use the discarded egg whites for another recipe or simply to garnish your salad or avocado sandwich!