Great Classic

Some of the recipes that most caught my imagination and that are the cornerstones of my cooking belong to my childhood. This particular one reminds me of a dinner that my mother hosted for her boss twenty years ago. I was about six, and I can remember easily the preparation of that evening: mum was very tense and spent at least 4 days working in the kitchen (in Italian we would say “spignattando” in the kitchen). To play it safe, she decided the second course would be cold veal with tuna sauce (so-called Vitel Tonné), an easy to prepare dish, impressive and very fashionable in the eighties. The day of the dinner my mother was very proud of her work and when we finally sat down at the table everything went well. But she had not reckoned with the quantities: almost all of the 2 Kg fine piece of was veal left over and for a whole month it was dished up for lunch and dinner, with a consequent distaste for this great classic. Only many, many, many years later did I have the courage to repeat the experience!

However, despite my personal misadventure, veal in tuna sauce has the right qualities to be the first recipe for the "lunch with the mother-in-law" blog section. Here are some of the virtues that make it suitable for those little more formal occasions, where the aim is not to surprise with creativity, but to bring guests happily and joyfully to their coffee without disfiguring (usually mothers-in-law always cook well but criticize better). First of all, you can cook it the day before, because it is a cold dish. As it is a cold dish, it is suitable for the summer season. To cook it, you don’t need to turn on the oven. All good things when in very hot climates!

Ingredients:

1 kg lean veal roast
300g canned tuna in olive oil
1 onion
4 anchovies
salt
pepper
1 pint white wine
½ cup olive oil
2 lemons
Decoration: pickles, capers, black pitted olives
Place in a large saucepan that just fits the piece of lean veal, the shredded tuna (the recipe doesn’t say to drain it before, but I prefer to remove the oil from the tin and add a trickle of oil, just to avoid sticking), one onion cut into thin slices, washed boneless anchovies cut in small pieces, salt, pepper and white wine. Bring the pan over moderate heat, cover and cook the veal.

When the meat is cooked (stick a fork in it) turn off the flame and remove the meat. Let it cool on a cutting board. In the meantime, use the immersion blender to blend all that is left in the pan, adding the oil and lemon juice.

Cut the meat that you need into thin slices, pour the sauce, add the sliced ​​pickles, the rest of garniture and cover the meat. Let it stand for 24 hours (even less, however, the more it stands the more it is good) to let the flavour soak in.
Keep the bowl with the veal in the fridge, and cut it when you need it.

It can be kept several days (Yes, we know ..!!)
The advice is to accompany it with boiled green beans dressed with olive oil and lemon or a rocket and cherry tomatoes salad. It is also nice with oven cooked potatoes.
Some sauce may be left over. You can spread it on a sandwich with slices of tomato and capers or use it to dress a salad or boiled potatoes.