The ideal way to find authentic Italian recipes is to ask a local!

This month myself, Jasmine of Questadolcevita and Kelly of Italianatheart are hosting an Italophile linkup called #Dolcevitabloggers. Every month we encourage people to write on a different topic and in September we're sharing our 'Favourite Italian Recipes'.

So what better way to find some new special meals to create than to ask a community of Italians and those living in Italy absorbing the culture!

Today I’m delighted to share with you two recipes from the lovely Toni who came from the US 24 years ago to live in the Piemontese countryside.

She gathered recipes from home cooks in the villages around Monferrato, as a project for local tourism. The book was named ‘Monferrato Mio’.

Toni has very kindly agreed to share some of these treasured recipes, so if you love authentic Italian regional food, you’re in for a treat!

Vitello tonnato

Veal in tuna sauce! I know how it sounds but give it a chance! This is one of my husband’s favourite dishes and really reminds him of his Mamma cooking for him. I’m so pleased Toni shared this as not many people know about it outside of Italy.

Recipe

(Serves 4).

To cook the meat:

1/2 kg Joint of veal. Preferably the rump/round. In italian this is Vitello. And the joint is the ‘magetello’ or also called ‘rotondino’ or ‘girello’.
This isn’t easy to get in the UK. Ideally you want rose veal which has been kept in decent conditions. Read more here about how to choose your veal. Most UK supermarkets only use rose veal and you can request this in a butchers. You want to be able to slice the meat quite thinly when cooked. I find it’s not always possible in the UK to get this kind of joint. The choice is a bit lacking. You could just not be precious about how you slice it or use beef instead.
1 Bay leaf
1 Garlic clove
Half an onion cubed.
1 chopped celery stalk
25ml Olive oil
Salt and pepper

For the sauce:

150g Tuna packed in oil and drained
4 Anchovy fillets
1 1/2 Teaspoons of capers in salt
3 Hard boiled egg yolks
1/2 Glass of stock
Extra virgin olive oil

Method

To cook the meat:

Heat oil with mashed garlic clove, unti the clove is lightly browned, then remove it.
Add the veal to the pan and brown it adding some salt and pepper as you turn it.
Add the vegetables and bay leaf. Continue cooking on a low flame for about an hour adding broth to maintain moisture.

For the sauce:

Crumble tuna until fine.
Clean anchovies well and remove bones.
Wash capers. Put all 3 ingredients into a food processor until they form a paste.
Mash the egg yolks with a fork and add olive oil and broth to make a thick sauce.

To serve:

Thinly slice the cold veal and serve with sauce, garnished with capers and valerian leaves.