Vitello Tonnato (Tuna Veal)

This is a traditional Italian dish that I can never seem to find out of Europe. I think it is because Veal is hard to come by in the USA.

Ingredients
2 kg of veal in one piece- i find that the fillet would be the best but choose a tender cut
1,5 l of white wine
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 celery sticks
2 carrots
1-2 leaves of thyme
Salt and Pepper





TUNA SAUCE:
1 7-oz. can imported tuna, packed in olive oil
5 flat anchovy filets
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
3 tbsp. capers, soaked and rinsed
1 1⁄4 cups mayonnaise


Method

Tidy up the veal and remove any fat.
Fill a pot with wine and water, enough to cover the meat
Add the onion, chopped up, the carrots, grates, the garlic, the celery and the thyme.
Bring to the boil, then add the veal, season and bring to the boil.
Simmer for 1 1/2 hrs.
Take off the fire.
Let the veal cool in the pot and broth for about 2-3hrs

While the meat is cooling, drain tuna and put into a food processor with anchovies, olive oil, lemon juice, and capers.
Process until it becomes a creamy, beige-colored sauce.
Fold sauce gently, but thoroughly, into mayonnaise.
Keep the sauce in the fridge until ready to serve.
When the meat has cooled down, cut in very very thin slices - as thin as possible - this is the key.
Arrange on a serving dish and cover with the sauce. Add some capers on top for decoration

Lucerto

The "round eye" is a boneless cut of meat that looks like tenderloin and although it is tastier, it is rather tough and requires slow and moist heat when cooking it .
The flavor of the meat is enhanced by the herbs, bacon and garlic, whereas the the onions, wine and tomato combined with the juices of the meat makes delicious sauce.

The great thing about this dish is that it is as good cold as it is warm...personally I prefer it cold...and as a sandwich between two slices of crusty bread...mmmm...can't be beaten!

Ingredients:

1 eye round of veal (about 3 lb.). If not available use beef.

4 white onions (about 1 lb.) diced.

1 medium peeled and diced potato

¼ cup of olive oil

½ pint of red wine

10 mint leaves

2 cloves of garlic

2 thick slices of bacon

1 hard boiled egg

1 spoon of tomato paste diluted in a glass of water

salt & pepper to taste

2 bay leaves

few sage leaves

few rosemary leaves

chopped parsley

Method

Choose a pan large 9and deep) enough to contain the meat and the onions.

Pierce the eye round with a sharp and narrow bladed knife and cut a 'tunnel' right through, cutting out a long strip. If you can't manage to go right through, make several holes.

Chop up the bacon, garlic, some parsley, add the hard boiled egg.

Add some of the herbs and stuff the tunnel or holes with this mixture.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Pour olive oil in saucepan and brown meat on all side.

When the meat is seared, add the diced onions and stir until onions are translucent.

Add diced potatoes.

Add wine, keep stirring and scrape any brown residue stuck at the bottom of the pan, in order to deglaze it.

Add the bay leaves, sage, rosemary and tomato paste diluted in water.

Continue stirring for a minute and add enough water to cover the meat halfway.

Lower heat and cook for about 1 hour- ½ hour on each side- or until it is tender when pierced with a fork.

Every few minutes check pot and turn the meat and the onions, to make sure that they don’t stick to the pan. If it becomes too dry add more water.

When meat is ready, cool it for a few minutes.

Cut the meat into ¼ inch slices, against the grain. Display it in a large dish, overlapping each slice.

At the same time prepare the sauce, using the vegetables left in the pan.

Remove the Bay Leaves

Put the liquid in a blender, blend, then put back on the fire.If is too watery, quickly evaporate over a high heat, if is to dry add some water so that there is enough sauce for serving.

Top meat with the sauce, garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately.

To eat cold, make a sauce of parsley garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil - just blend the three ingredients in a blender and you are good to go.

Bollito

Boiled meats...hmmmm....doesn't sound very appetizing but when accompanied with Mostardo di Cremona it is a unique and really good dish - as well as being dead easy to make!

I first tasted it in Lugano, the Italian part of Switzerland. We bought the mostarda the first time then made it ourselves!

The variety of meats used is important because each compliments the other, producing the unique concoction.You should include beef, veal, pork, chicken, tongue, zampone or cotechino, and feel free to add whatever other cuts of meat you feel might work. The pieces should be from older animals, because they will be more flavorful, and should also be large - this means that a good bollito misto is ideal for a convivial meal with friends, or for when you want to make something that will provide leftovers for several meals. In terms of cooking technique, preparing a bollito misto is extremely simple.

Bollito =Boil - and that’s it!

INGRIDIENTS

2 1/4 pounds beef -- the cut used in Italy is shoulder; beef brisket should do

2 1/4 pounds neck or breast of veal

1 lb lean pork

1 veal's tongue, weighing 1 1/4 pounds

1 chicken, weighing about 2 1/4 pounds

1 cotechino weighing about 3/4 pound (pork sausage, available in Italian delicatessens.You can also use a zampone, which is a stuffed pig's trotter.)

2 carrots

2 sticks celery

2 onions, stuck with 2 cloves each

Salt

METHOD

Cut meats into large chunks

Fill a large pot with water sufficient to cover the meat.

Lightly salt the water, add the vegetables, bring the water to a boil before adding the beef (the heat will seal in its juices).

Reduce the flame to a simmer, and after about an hour, add the breast of veal, pork and chicken

In the meantime, set a second pot of lightly salted water on the fire, bring it to a boil, and begin simmering the tongue when you add the veal and chicken to the beef.
If you are using a fresh cotechino or zampone set it in a pot of cold lightly salted water at this time (prick the cotechino all over, or loosen the string of the zampone first) and begin simmering it. If you instead buy precooked sausage, follow the instructions on the package. The meats will be done when they are fork-tender, this will take about an hour or slightly more from when you add the veal and the chicken to the beef.

This should be served with Mostarda di Cremona (see recipe) boiled potatoes or other vegetables and Italian-style bread.

Mostarda di Cremona is what most Italians think of when they hear the word mostarda. It has a very particular taste but can end up being really addictive. Mostarda is a must with Bollito

Ingredients:

12 ounces (300 g) pears

8 ounces (200 g) quinces

6 ounces (150 g) cherries

8 ounces (200 g) apricots

10 ounces (250 g) figs

8 ounces (200 g) peaches

3 tablespoons powdered mustard seed

3 1/2 cups (800 g) sugar

2 cups white wine vinegar

Preparation:

Wash and Dry the fruit and cut in quarters.
Heat about a quart of water in a large pot, and when it begins to simmer slowly stir in the sugar. When it has all melted, add the quinces.

Simmer 20 minutes, then add the pears.

Then the peaches, apricots, and cherries & figs, at five minute intervals.

When you've added everything, simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, then turn off the flame and let it cool.
In the meantime, heat the vinegar, and stir in the mustard, then let the mixture cool.
Transfer the fruit from the syrup to sterile jars with a slotted spoon. Mix the syrup and the vinegar mixture, pour the resulting sauce over the fruit, seal the jars, and store them in a cool dry place.

Serve with the bollito!