Vitello tonnato without mayonnaise: the recipe – Italian Cuisine

Meat, anchovies, tuna, capers and many other easy-to-find ingredients for an alternative and lighter version of the famous Piedmontese dish

What for many is a typical dish of French cuisine, is actually a true symbol of tradition Piedmontese culinary. Born in 1700, the vitello tonnato it can also be prepared in many ways. This second summer based on roasted meat, you can indeed cook too without mayonnaise. Such as? But of course.

Poor origins

Unlike what you can imagine the name, tuna, at least at first, had nothing to do with this all-Italian recipe. tonne, in fact, derives from the French Tanné, which means "tanned" and initially meant a poor dish, prepared exclusively with the remains of veal, who came boiled long up to become soft. Only with the advancing of the decades the recipe of vitello tonnato has become more and more similar to the current one, with mayonnaise and tuna sauce arrived in the twentieth century.

The recipe of Artusi

To do without mayonnaise, of course, was also the greatest Italian gastronomist of all time: Pellegrino Artusi. His recipe, reported in the memorable book The science of cooking and the art of eating well, prescribed "milk veal, in the thigh or in the culaccio", seasoned with anchovies and then boiled "with two clove nails, a bay leaf, celery, carrot and parsley". Nothing more. The meat was also cut into thin slices and kept "infused a day or two" in a sauce based on anchovies, tuna in oil, lemon, oil and capers. Not even a shadow of mayonnaise.

Preparation

To prepare the vitello tonnato without mayonnaise, we start by putting the meat in a large pot (800 g of magatello, walker or rod), a sprig of rosemary, two segments ofgarlic, one onion, cloves, one carrot, a leaf oflaurel and two tablespoons of oil. A pinch of is added salt and then pour two glasses of wine White. It is cooked for about an hour and a half (it is the degree of softness of the meat that dictates the time) and, while it is left to cool, it prepares the tuna sauce. Just chop roughly 200 grams of tuna in oil and eight anchovy fillets under salt. Then put it all in a mixer, together with the capers, to obtain a soft and homogeneous cream. When the meat it will be well cooled, cut to about 3 mm thick slices and place it on a plate, spreading the tuna sauce over it. All that remains is to garnish with some capers and serve at the table. Nothing could be simpler.

3 quick menus this week – Italian Cuisine

Meat, fish and vegetables. The quick menus to prepare in the week do not give up on taste, but always keep an eye on the clock

You have just returned from vacation, still the sun in your eyes, the salt on your skin and relaxed rhythms summer? Here's how to organize meals without forgetfulness and stress.

Let's start with kitchen. Three simple and fast menus they will help to plan the meals of the week, offering the family a complete and balanced lunch or dinner, as well as various and rich in taste. The first step is to do the shopping, making sure you have all the ingredients available for the preparation of these quick menus that require 30 to 45 minutes each. Not having to do the shopping and not being satisfied with what is left in the pantry, will be the first sure step towards an effective organization of your table.

Mixed salads, light first courses, cold second courses and simple desserts, are the ideal for the preparation of quick and tasty menus that invite you to sit at the table without sacrificing the time-saving courses.

Alternating vegetarian menus with meat and fish meals is a good idea to encourage balanced and complete nutrition, as well as stimulating and intriguing.

Quick vegetarian menu

Fresh bean salad, green beans and grapes, eggplant and scamorza sandwich and tartlets with ricotta and pear.

Quick meat menu

Short pasta with parsley and champignon sauce, turkey cannoli stuffed with pine nuts ricotta and quick cream with rum and almond prunes.

Quick fish menu

Egg salad with pumpkin seeds, potato soup with mushrooms and croutons and sea bass escalopes with vegetables in foil.

Our 3 quick menus for the week:

Prepare the risotto with zucchini, a light and tasty first course – Italian Cuisine

Simple, but with a touch of fantasy it can become a refined dish: the risotto with zucchini is ready to surprise you

It is a fresh and light dish, which is prepared in a short time and which can be enriched with many ingredients, to become a refined and elegant first course: risotto with zucchini has a very delicate flavor, capable of meeting even the taste of the little ones, and precisely because of its delicacy, it can be made more structured with the combination of shellfish, smoked salmon, toasted bacon slices or dried fruit, such as walnuts and hazelnuts. In any case you want to prepare it, the risotto with zucchini remains a pleasant and light first course.

The most suitable zucchini

The presentation of a dish is like a woman's dress: if it is well done, it adds value to the content itself. For this reason, not all courgettes are suitable for preparing this dish. The best are the Ligurian zucchini, small and with a light green streaked color: cut into rounds they are not larger than a small circle, have very firm flesh and do not flake during cooking. But of course it depends on the season and the availability of your trusted gardener!

And now the recipe for preparing risotto with zucchini

For this dish you will need 320 g of Carnaroli rice, 3 very firm zucchini, a red Tropea onion, a white onion, a carrot, a bay leaf, salt, peppercorns, 100 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano, a few leaves of fresh mint, extra virgin olive oil and butter.

Prepare vegetable broth putting in a large pot water, an onion, a carrot, a courgette, a pinch of salt, a few grains of pepper and a bay leaf and cook for 40 minutes over medium heat. Then strain and leave on the heat. Separately, fry the thinly sliced Tropea onion in a pan with a knob of butter. When it is golden, add the rice, let it toast a few minutes and then cover it with two ladles of broth, which you will continue to add as it is absorbed by the rice. Halfway through cooking, add the diced courgettes, stir and finish cooking. When the rice is al dente, turn off, add the Parmesan, stir in a knob of butter, cover for 5 minutes and then serve, completing with a few leaves of fresh mint.

In the tutorial some suggestions for a perfect risotto with zucchini

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