Skills you will learn in this recipe
Slicing tomatoes; layering flavour & seasoning using core ingredients
Links to the last recipe
Working with a tuna-based mix
This tomato and tuna salad is a real go-to recipe – easy, tasty and fresh. It’s best made in summer when tomatoes are at their peak, but we make it year-round as a welcome reminder of the sunny warmer months to come. Just make sure you choose reasonable quality tomatoes grown for flavour if good British ones aren’t yet in season. But the sauce is also so incredibly delicious and well-flavoured that it’ll give even the saddest tomato a lift to greatness!
It’s a riff on the classic vitello tonnato which is an Italian staple starter on many restaurant menus, and which we love too, but is time consuming and slightly fiddly to make well at home, especially for a beginner. But this version is easier, quicker, fresher and cheaper. The sauce is a blender sauce, and once that’s made you just really need to slice tomatoes – simple.
The key to success in this dish is layering the flavours correctly into the sauce. We’ll be using anchovies and capers as flavourings for the tuna sauce – rather than as composed ingredients within the dish. It’s vital that you taste, adjust, and taste again until you like it. It should be tangy, rich, salty, sharp and savoury all at once, and with a light, creamy texture. But follow our steps and it’s super easy to make!
First zest and juice one lemon, cutting the zest smaller. Find out how in our Tip. Then chop some parsley. See how in our Tip. You’ll need enough to both add to the sauce and to garnish later, so you’ll need to chop at least a full small pack. Set aside for later.
Drain one can or jar of tuna in a sieve or small colander and add to the bowl of a blender or food processor. Choose a good quality tuna in either oil or spring water – in oil will make the sauce richer; in water will make it lighter. We personally prefer tuna in oil for this dish. As with the tuna filling from the last recipe (Sandwich Dinner), you don’t need to go too high-end with the tuna as there are some very robust flavours in the sauce, meaning a very expensive tuna is a waste. But at least a mid-range quality will considerably lift the finished sauce. We used two small jars today as we were making a large salad for four hungry people.
Next add the anchovies. By far the best tinned or jarred anchovies you can buy are Cantabrian ones – they are much richer and less purely salty then cheaper options (and supermarket versions are still very reasonably priced), but any anchovies will do if you can’t find them. Today we used a whole tin (we wouldn’t if using the cheaper anchovies, the taste would be too strong) but if you have standard anchovies, or if anchovies are not your favourites – we love them – three or four fillets will be fine. Remember they are being added as a seasoning, so you won’t see them in the final dish, just get a salty kick from them.
Now add the capers – also being added as a seasoning to bring acidity and a ‘green’ flavour to the sauce. How much again depends on personal taste. At least a large tablespoon, but we like them and today we added more (just over two tablespoons).
Jake sticks his nose in
Capers come in different sizes, grades and forms. The best quality you can commonly find are the small nonpareil capers, but larger, cheaper capers work just as well here too. We suggest you get ones in vinegar for this dish though, not ones in salt – those would make the sauce too salty.
Also add the lemon zest and a splash of the lemon juice – don’t add too much at this stage, you can always add more. Add about half the parsley and a good grind of black pepper, but don’t add salt as you shouldn’t need it with the anchovies. Blend briefly to amalgamate – we find using the pulse function on your blender or processor works best at this stage.
To make the mix into the smooth sauce you want for this dish you’ll need to add something to loosen it. Mayonnaise is traditional, but we use 0% Greek yoghurt. We started doing this when having a ‘healthy’ month to make some of our favourite dishes lighter, but now we far prefer it. But mayo is fine too – the sauce will be richer – or perhaps a blend of mayo and yoghurt. How much you need will depend on how wet your mix is already. It is best to add tablespoon by tablespoon, blending well after each addition until you reach the right texture. The sauce should be smooth and pourable, but still have some thickness and body (see pictures below) – a bit like like thick double cream. Scrape the bowl down after each addition to make sure everything gets properly captured by the blender.
Taste the sauce. At this stage we add a little hot sauce – green Tabasco – though this is optional. You can also add more capers or lemon juice if you want more acidity, more black pepper or hot sauce for more heat, or more yoghurt or mayo to thin it further if needed. More anchovies too, if you think it needs it. Taste and adjust again, blending briefly after each addition, until you like it. Don’t over-flavour however, this is a tuna sauce, so you should still be able to distinctly taste the tuna. The sauce should be savoury, slightly sharp and rich, with a smooth, pale look, as below.
Jake sticks his nose in
If you don’t have a stand blender or food processor you can blend in a large bowl with a hand blender, but it will just take a bit longer and you’ll have to keep mixing with a spoon between blends. Making without a blender entirely would be hard but not impossible – you’d need to thoroughly mash or chop every ingredient first, then vigorously whip in a bowl with a wooden spoon or pestle.
Pour the sauce into a bowl, scraping it out with a spatula – it’s too yummy to waste! Then reserve in the fridge for ideally at least an hour for the flavours to develop. Remember to get it out about 30/40 minutes before serving as it is much nicer served at room temperature.
Now prep your tomatoes. We think it’s pretty and adds flavour/texture to use a combination of varieties and colours, but whatever tomatoes you can find will work great. We tend to use medium to large tomatoes, not cherry ones here. Slice thickly with a serrated knife, then arrange on a large plate or serving platter.
Jake sticks his nose in
You can cut tomatoes and other soft salad items or fruit with a normal chef’s knife. But a serrated knife makes the job much easier, and is less likely to slip or slide off the skin.
Have your bread and the room temperature sauce to hand. Top the tomatoes evenly and generously with the sauce, though it looks nicest to leave some tomatoes peeping out at the edges.
Now sprinkle over the rest of the parsley, scatter a few teaspoons of capers over, and decorate with basil, which you should rip into smaller pieces as you add. Slice the crusty bread.
Serve the salad with the bread to mop up the savoury, summery sauce. Enjoy!
Savoury, Summery Tomato Tonnato
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Zest and juice the lemon, cutting the zest smaller. See our lemon Tip. Chop the parsley. See our herb Tip. Set aside for later.
- Drain the tuna in a sieve or colander, and add to the bowl of your blender or food processor. Add the anchovies, a few fillets or to taste. Add at least 1 tablespoon of capers, or more if liked. Add the lemon zest, plus a little of the juice and a good grind of black pepper. Add half the chopped parsley. Blend, ideally on the pulse setting, until well combined.
- Add 1 heaped tablespoon of yoghurt or mayonnaise to the mix, blend well and scrape down the bowl to catch any stray ingredients. Continue adding and blending spoon by spoon until a smooth, pourable consistency is reached, but the sauce still has some body. Add a splash of hot sauce, if using.
- Taste and adjust, adding lemon, pepper, capers, hot sauce, more anchovies etc until you get the flavour you like. It should be tangy, but still rich and savoury, and you should still be able to distinctly taste the tuna.
- Pour the sauce into a bowl and chill in the fridge to develop the flavour, ideally for at least one hour. Remove from the fridge about 30/40 minutes before serving so the cold does not deaden the flavours.
- Slice the tomatoes quite thickly, and arrange on a large plate or serving platter. A serrated knife makes this easier. Spoon over the room temperature sauce. Decorate with the remainder of the chopped parsley and a few more capers. Top with some basil, ripping the leaves as you add.
- Serve with lots of crusty bread to mop up the delicious, moreish sauce.
- Enjoy!
Leave a Reply