Tonnato is a creamy tuna mayonnaise made with anchovies, capers and lemon juice. It hails from northern Italy and is the perfect sauce for summer. Serve a bowl of creamy tonnato with grilled broccoli spears hot off the barbecue or use it instead of regular mayonnaise for a potato salad. The tonnato sauce is equally good drizzled over a platter of sliced summer tomatoes and scattered with a few extra caper berries.
The sharp, bright, salty flavours from the sauce work surprisingly well with meat, and traditionally tonnato is served with thinly sliced veal for the dish vitello tonnato. I love it best served with a big bowl of finely shredded salad leaves and soft-boiled eggs. It’s got all the flavours of a Niçoise salad scattered with plump olives. Another option is to pop cherry tomatoes in the air fryer for a few minutes instead of serving them raw. A little heat condenses their flavour, charring them in spots and making them jammy and delicious. Often this sauce is made from scratch with egg yolks and olive oil, but I like to use a nice mayonnaise. A good-quality olive oil-based version is best. The sharpness of the lemon juice and Dijon mustard cuts through the oil and anchovies.
All this salad needs is a few slices of buttered sourdough toast to pile those incredible tomatoes and punchy tonnato sauce on. Make this a heartier meal by folding some butter beans through the salad leaves or some cooked rigatoni pasta. The traditional Niçoise salad has baby potatoes, and this is amazing served with boiled new potatoes too.
This is a wonderful way to stretch a good-quality tuna to feed a crowd. There are plenty of brands I love to use, such as Ortiz, or Irish tuna such as Shine’s Wild Irish Tuna in olive oil. Shine’s tuna is delicious straight from the jar or in a tuna melt. This tonnato sauce is a great way to make a little go a long way.
Recipe: Tonnato summer salad
Lilly’s kitchen tips
- Place leftover anchovies in a jar and ensure they’re fully submerged in oil. They will keep in the fridge for months. A little goes a long way.
- Add an anchovy or two to pasta sauces or lamb dishes. They give an umami depth that’s not at all fishy.
- Use leftover capers in chicken dishes such as chicken piccata or with seafood. A buttery, lemony hollandaise sauce is incredibly good with baked fish and a handful of salty capers.
