Vitello tonnato sounds backwards on paper: cold sliced veal, draped in a sauce made mostly of tuna, as a main course. Then you taste it and understand why Piedmontese cooks have served it at summer lunches and holiday tables for generations.

Vitello tonnato is deceptively elegant for how little active cooking it demands. A veal roast poaches gently until just cooked through, chills completely, then gets sliced paper thin and blanketed in a creamy sauce built from tuna, anchovies, capers, and egg yolk or mayonnaise. The tuna sauce sounds like it should taste fishy, but blended properly it turns silky and savory, more like a sophisticated aioli than anything overtly seafood forward.

Because everything is served cold, this is one of the best make-ahead dishes for a warm-weather dinner party. It pairs well with our Passatelli in Brodo (recipe on the site) as a starter, or try Caprese Chicken Saltimbocca (recipe on the site) another night.

Vitello Tonnato Recipe

What you need

Ingredients

For the veal:
2 lbs veal round or eye of round roast, tied
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 small onion, quartered
1 bay leaf
6 whole black peppercorns
1/2 cup dry white wine
Water, to cover
1 teaspoon salt
For the tonnato sauce:
1 (5 oz) can olive oil-packed tuna, drained
4 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons capers, drained, plus more for garnish
2 egg yolks (or 3/4 cup good-quality mayonnaise as a shortcut)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup neutral oil (only if making the sauce from scratch with raw yolks)
2 to 3 tablespoons reserved veal poaching liquid, to thin
Salt and white pepper, to taste
Lemon wedges and extra capers, for serving

Cook along

Instructions

Place the veal in a pot just large enough to hold it. Add the carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, peppercorns, wine, salt, and enough water to cover the meat by about an inch.
Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, then reduce heat to low, cover partially, and poach gently for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer reads 135 to 140°F for medium.
Remove the veal from the liquid and let cool completely, then wrap tightly and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Reserve the poaching liquid.
Make the sauce: if using raw egg yolks, whisk the yolks with lemon juice, then slowly drizzle in the neutral oil while whisking constantly to form a mayonnaise. If using store-bought mayonnaise as a shortcut, skip to the next step.
Blend or process the tuna, anchovies, and capers until smooth, then fold this into the mayonnaise, homemade or store-bought, until well combined.
Thin the sauce with a few tablespoons of the reserved poaching liquid until it reaches the consistency of a thick, pourable dressing. Season with salt and white pepper.
Slice the chilled veal very thin, against the grain, using a sharp knife or meat slicer.
Arrange the veal slices on a platter, slightly overlapping. Spoon the tonnato sauce generously over the top, covering the meat completely.
Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving so the flavors meld. Garnish with extra capers and lemon wedges.