Narsai David: Vitello Tonnato Means A Summer Recipe With Veal And Tuna

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Vitello tonnato is one of those wonderful, historic and classic Italian dishes for summertime. It's absolutely wonderful in warm weather.

Once you translate the name you've basically got a veal roast served at room temperature. Vitello means veal. Tonnato means tuna, so you've got a tuna sauce. What in the world is tuna doing alongside veal? The tuna is pureed into a sauce that garnishes the roast and it is absolutely magnificent.

Veal is kind of hard to get a hold of and if you find it, it can be awfully expensive. I've substituted roated turkey breast so it's still nice and moist and not too well done. The other night a friend served us a pork-loin roast with a tonnato sauce on it.

It's one of the easiest sauces to make and you should try it on any of those aforementioned roasts, but you should also serve it over grilled chicken sometime. It's only five ingredients and you just put it in your blender.

NARSAI'S TONNATO SAUCE
1 can tuna in oil (6 ½ to 7 ½ oz)
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup mayonnaise juice of 1 lemon
2-3 anchovy filets
1 TBS capers

Puree first five ingredients in blender until smooth and creamy.
Sprinkle the capers over the bowlful of sauce when using as a dip. Or, sprinkle over each portion of sauce when used over roast meat.
Traditionally, this is served in Italy over cold, sliced roast veal. It works equally well with roast turkey breast or roast pork loin.
Also works well as a dip for fresh vegetables.