Vitello Tonnato

This recipe might surprise your guests if you plan to make lunch at home and you want to serve a light meal with meat. It was the dish that my nonna Carla would make almost every Sunday when we went to her house for the typical Italian “pranzo della domenica” (Sunday lunch). 

Vitello means veal. Now the trick here is to get a specific part of the veal that is super tender and perfect for this dish.

The classic cut used to make vitello tonnato is what we call magatello (eye of round), it might be difficult to find outside of Italy so you can ask your go to butcher the perfect veal cut that will do the trick! If you are in Italy il macellaio (the bucher) will know and probably will serve you meat from Piedmont (the white breed veal).

This is a simple but tasty dish that is sure to be a hit when you have guests over.

The meat has to be covered and marinated for 12 hours in a bath of white wine, white wine vinegar, and vegetables and herbs such as carrot, celery, sage, onion and bay leaf. The meat is then cooked slowly in the marinade and then cooled. When the meat is cold, it is cut into thin slices, placed on a platter and then covered with a special sauce.

The recipe for Vitello Tonnato is to be found here: 

Meat and marinade:

• 1 kilo of veal
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• 1 celery
• 7.5 dl dry wine wine
• 2 liters of water
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried capers
• 1 bay leaf
• some sage
• 5 crushed peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons of salt

Procedure meat and marinade: 

• Cut vegetables and place them in a large pot.
• Place the meat on top and pour over the wine, water, oil and herbs.
• Add dried capers, crushed pepper and salt.
• Marinate at room temperature for 12 hours.
• Then cook on low heat. Calculate 1 hour per kilogram of meat.
• Remove the meat and let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the fridge.
• Just before serving, cut the meat into thin slices.

The sauce:

• 2 egg yolks (boiled)
• 6 anchovy filets
• 1 tablespoon of capers
• 200 grams of tuna in oil
• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• lemon juice
• possibly pepper
• capers for garnish

Procedure sauce:

• Finely chop anchovies and capers.
• Mix together with egg yolks and stir in the oil.
• Finally, stir in the tuna (drain it, you do not need too much oil) until you get a rich sauce.
• Season with drops of lemon juice and pepper.

Keep the sauce cold and let it settle before serving. Adjust the taste with more lemon juice, capers and pepper if necessary.

Serving suggestion:

Lay the meat slices out on a plate and pour a good amount of sauce in the middle.

Garnish with capers. If necessary, pour over a little oil.

Click here if you want to see recipes of other antipasti!