Consider making TONNATO
A sauce that's also a meal; chic; very flexible and easy; a summer smuggler
One of the Boy Scout levels of becoming a good home cook—and one that’s very overrepresented, for good reason, by Instagram private chefs who make vaguely Mediterranean food—is “putting something blended underneath other stuff.” Yogurt or whipped feta under roasted vegetables; hummus under also roasted vegetables; romesco sauce with with meats; salsa verde with all of the above. I personally arrived at this stage a few years ago, when my friend Amelia’s mom gifted me a NutriBullet for Christmas. (Has YOUR friend’s mom ever given you a NutriBullet?) Suddenly, flavors could not only “get to know each other,” but become each other when blitzed. And suddenly my dishes looked a whole lot better thanks to solid shocks of liquid color.
A type of blended thing that doesn’t get much pop-love is tonnato, a Piedmontese sauce that’s basically an aioli with tuna blended into it. It’s most traditionally served as part of vitello tonnato, a dish of thinly sliced veal served on top of a thin layer of tonnato and then topped with more. I associate the concept of this dish with my friend Timo, who I think one time told me he made the vitello version—because tonnato itself is chic and Timo is very chic, I consider the whole thing extra chic, which is fantastic considering how easy, flexible, and delicious it is. It’s my current favorite something-blended-underneath-other-stuff.
You should consider making tonnato, especially now; the sauce evokes summer, since it goes so well with tomato, but it can make up for somewhat lackluster last March produce. I made it for a weeknight dinner the other day, then again last night for a dinner party. Below is my version—which spotlights the fish a bit more than the mayo—with an arugula salad atop.
Tonnato with arugula salad
Tonnato
This recipe is really similar to Melissa Clark’s, but I’ve changed the ratios on a couple things, added a bit more acid, chili, and mustard, and uhhhh I think that’s it. I amped up these flavors for my particular applications—as the flavor-punch of a larger leafy salad—but you might want to make things simpler if you’re serving this with just tomatoes. I love how Clark adds basil, so I do that too. You can also make this with an egg yolk and vegetable oil, which I’m going to try next time. But I love mayo and find it reliable and tasty here.
This serves 2 people if one of them is quite hungry and wants seconds. Double this recipe if you’re making it for 4 people, you will have leftovers depending on how much else you’re serving. That’s a good thing!
2 standard 3oz cans tuna, drained or not (see below)
Depending on whether you drain, ~1/2 cup of olive oil (see below)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
4-5 anchovies
2 tbsp capers, drained
2-3 garlic cloves
About 1/4 of a Fresno chili
A very small bit of dijon mustard—maybe 1/2 tsp
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsps sherry vinegar
A small handful of basil leaves, lightly packed
Salt and pepper
Salad (no ratios, but see notes)
Shallot
Halved cherry tomatoes
Persian cucumbers, halved and cut into irregular pieces
Sherry vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Torn basil leaves
Put all of the tonnato ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until quite smooth. (You can probably also do this with a stick blender in a jar.) If it’s too gloopy, like hummus, add a little more olive oil or lemon juice depending on how it’s tasting. The texture should be like a smoothie that pours fairly easily, but it should be viscous enough that when spread on a plate, the tonnato holds faint shapes from the spoon.
Then, mandolin or thinly slice a shallot into rings. Put in the bottom of the bowl where you’ll toss the salad. Lightly cover the shallot with sherry vinegar and toss, then add in the cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, and generously salt and pepper this combo and toss. Add enough olive oil until it looks good and well dressed, then add the arugula and torn basil leaves and toss again. (I use a lot of basil, ideally it’s about 1/4 of the leafy mix.)
Put a few big spoonfuls of tonnato on a plate and spread it out, creating a zone for a pile of salad. Create that pile with your hands and place it on top, then top with black pepper. You MUST serve this with some kind of bread, ideally something crusty.
A few overall notes:
- You can make this with normal-ass water-packed Bumblebee tuna and it would be great. But I’ve been using 1 can of Cento oil-packed tuna, which I drain, and 1 can of Fishwife smoked trout, whose oil I include in the tonnato mix. (Maybe I shouldn’t be discriminating like this, perhaps the cheap oil-packed tuna’s oil is just as yummy. For now, I am discriminating.) The trout is totally divine and I think makes this way better, so if you ever buy expensive tinned fish, consider this a good use of it.
- Since I use the trout’s oil, I don’t add as much EVOO back into the mix. The EVOO thing here is really an adjustment game, please taste your sauce as you go.
- You can eat the tonnato right away or, wonderfully, put it in the fridge and take it out when you want it or when your guests arrive. I have some in a glass container right this minute and might make a little toast for lunch with it and chopped tomatoes…
- For both the sauce and the salad, you could use red wine vinegar instead of sherry. But I think sherry vinegar is really, really superior to other kinds in a lot of cases, I highly recommend you get some when you’re next at the store. I use this kind.
Here’s an entire dinner party concept that you should copy from me
Make the tonnato a bit earlier in the afternoon and put it in the fridge. Then, walk an hour through Prospect Park to the farmer’s market, then to Union Market, and spend way too much money on little bitty bougie snacks. Here’s what I put out for my spread:
Funky cheese (can’t remember the exact name but it was basically époisses)
Crackers (I’ve fallen prey to the IG influencing and think Firehook are the best)
Two radishes, one watermelon and one purple, mandolin’d
Cultured butter
White anchovies (as well as the rest of the regular salt-cured anchovies I used in the tonnato)
Some of these peppers, banana peppers, and castelvetrano olives
Flaky salt
(I was gonna do roasted almonds but forgot)
Serve this bounty as a full first course. Then, when your guests are almost ready for the next part of the meal, go into the kitchen, make the salad, and plate it with the tonnato. Cut the bread, too—I found a dark brown, yummy loaf at the farmer’s market made with polenta. Yorm!
Hope you liked this recipe-centric post. Much love.