Vitello Tonnato Recipes

Steps:

• Blend tuna with reserved oil, mayonnaise, anchovies, olive oil, lemon juice, capers, and garlic together in a blender until completely smooth. Season with cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper.

Steps:

• In a pot just large enough to fit veal, put wine, celery, onion, carrot, leek, marjoram, thyme and garlic. Add 3 inches of water, and bring to a boil. Add veal, and bring back to a boil. Immediately turn off heat, cover pot and let veal cool in its liquid 2 to 3 hours. When completely cool, thinly slice veal. Slices should be about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick.
• While veal cools, make sauce: In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/4 teaspoon salt until pale yellow and the consistency of cream. Beginning a drop at a time, add 1 1/4 cups oil, whisking continually. As mixture thickens, you can add oil more quickly. When it gets quite thick, whisk in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Continue adding oil until all of it has been absorbed and mayonnaise is quite thick and shiny. Whisk in another tablespoon of lemon juice.
• Drain tuna, and put it in a food processor with anchovies, remaining cup olive oil, remaining lemon juice and capers. Process until you get a creamy, uniformly blended sauce. Scrape sauce into bowl with mayonnaise and fold to combine. Taste. It should be quite tangy and highly seasoned. Refrigerate until needed.
• To assemble dish: remove 3/4 cup sauce, and reserve to serve alongside veal. Smear bottom of a large serving platter with some of the remaining tuna sauce. Place a layer of veal slices on top, meeting edge to edge without overlapping. Cover with sauce, then make another layer of meat and sauce. Repeat until all the meat is used. Leave yourself enough sauce to blanket top layer.
• Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Garnish with some or all suggested ingredients. Serve with reserved sauce on the side.

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven or casserole, combine the veal, chicken stock, wine, onions, carrots, celery, rosemary, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Add water as needed to cover the meat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover tightly. Simmer, turning once, until the meat is tender and an instant-read thermometer registers 145 to 150 degrees F, about 50 minutes to 1 hour.
• Transfer the veal to a platter and let cool. Strain and reserve the cooking broth. Wrap the veal tightly and refrigerate until well chilled (up to 24 hours).
• To make the sauce, combine the tuna, anchovies, capers, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a blender or food processor and blend to a very smooth texture, about 2 minutes. Add the mayonnaise and process to blend thoroughly. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved cooking broth. Add more, if desired, to taste or for a thinner consistency. Refrigerate in a tightly sealed container for at least 2 and up to 24 hours. (The sauce tastes best if made 1 day in advance and allowed to rest overnight).
• To serve, thinly slice the meat and arrange on a platter. Drizzle the sauce over each slice, season generously with the kosher salt and black pepper. Garnish by sprinkling with additional capers and chopped parsley. Arrange the lemon slices around the platter and serve.
• In a blender or food processor, combine the egg and lemon juice and process for 10 seconds. With the machine running, slowly pour in the oil through the feed tube and process until emulsified. Add the salt and black pepper and pulse to blend. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using. (The mayonnaise can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up 24 hours).

Steps:

• If necessary, tie the veal with cotton string, so that it resembles a salami. Place the meat in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven and cover with tuna, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf, parsley, wine, broth, salt and pepper, then heat over a high flame until it comes to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the veal reaches 130 degrees.
• Remove meat to a large, nonreactive bowl, strain the broth over it, cover and allow the meat to cool in the refrigerator. (Discard solids.)
• Meanwhile, put yolks in a medium bowl. Beat together with a wire whisk. Begin to add oil as you beat, a very little at a time, adding more as each bit is incorporated. When a thick emulsion forms, then you can add oil a little faster, but not much faster. The entire process should take roughly 5 to 7 minutes. (You may not need all the oil.)
• Add tuna, anchovies and caper brine to the mixture, then beat to incorporate. Add a few tablespoons of the veal broth to thin the sauce slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding lemon juice or more broth to taste. The sauce should not taste overly mayonnaisey but should lurk in the neighborhood.
• Remove the cooled veal from its broth, untie and cut across the grain into very thin slices. Arrange these neatly on a platter with the edges of the slices overlapping, and spoon the tuna sauce over the top. Cover and return to refrigerator overnight or until ready to use. Garnish with capers or fried capers, lemon, hard-cooked egg wedges or sprigs of parsley. Serve with copious amounts of bread and a green salad, lightly dressed.