Make This: Tonnato Sauce

From Milan to your plate, a versatile Italian superstar

Hello friends, as well as any enemies who are kind enough to subscribe to this newsletter. I’ve gone deep into some travel and guides in my last few newsletters, so today I wanted to offer up some lighter fare.

Before we get started, big thank you to my pal Matt Rodbard, Founder of TASTE (and host of my favorite food podcast) for the shoutout on Why Is This Interesting? this morning. I did a Monday Media Diet a few weeks ago, and it’s one of my favorite Monday reads. Matt’s also got a great book coming out tomorrow. I got my hands on an early copy and it’s a fantastic primer for anyone interested in Korean food. (Trust me, you should be.)

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One of my favorite sources of inspiration for cooking at home is in the restaurant of a chef I trust. Over the years some of my best meals at home started by riffing on dishes I’d eaten in Charleston, or on the road.

Last week I went to The Ordinary here in Charleston, a seafood restaurant in an old bank with Southern brasserie vibes. It’s a special place because I worked for Mike Lata (the chef) and his partner Adam Nemirow for the first several years I lived in Charleston, at FIG and then at The Ordinary. I met my wife there - she was a customer, I was the GM. (Bringing her free Champagne helped my case.)

Scattered among the plates of fresh crudo and platters of raw oysters, it was a refined vegetable dish that stole the show. Blanched asparagus was stacked and served over ice, in the language of raw bar, alongside a dish of sugar snap peas (also blanched) and a delicate aioli for dipping. It was an inventive crudité and truth be told, my favorite dish of the night.

Two days later I pulled sugar snap peas from the fridge and thought back to this sweet dish. The quick blanch they were given at The Ordinary locked in their color, and coaxed a subtle sweetness from the peas. I would do the same.

And because I’m not a huge aioli guy, I opted instead for what is one of my desert island condiments: tonnato. It only made sense because Mike was the first person to introduce me to tonnato years ago. He served a Porchetta Tonnato (chilled pork with tuna sauce) at The Ordinary; it was a riff on the traditional Milanese dish of Vitello Tonnato (veal with tuna sauce), one of my all-time favorite dishes.

Tonnato is a sauce made from canned tuna, lemon, olive oil, anchovies, and mayonnaise. It doesn’t jump off the page when you read “tuna sauce,” but it way overdelivers on the plate. It comes together in the food processor in minutes and should be deployed liberally on anything: raw veggies, hard boiled eggs, and grilled chicken being a few of my favorite vehicles.

I started with a quick blanch of my sugar snap peas - 30 seconds in boiling water, followed by a plunge into an icy bath to halt the cooking and set their color. EASY.

In the food processor I tossed a can of Ortiz Tuna, oil and all, with a fat squeeze of lemon, four anchovies, and a scoop of mayonnaise. I added another drizzle of olive oil (why the hell not?) and let her rip. It could be ready in ten seconds, but texture is really a personal preference. I was looking for a smooth, elegant version of the sauce, almost hummus like. I added a bit of water until it was the smooth, loose texture I was seeking.

You could opt for a tighter, more rustic version of the sauce, where the texture and grippiness of the tuna is highlighted. This is how Ignacio Mattos served his tonnato at his elegant midtown outpost, Lodi.

As a midday snack I served a jumble of seasoned sugar snaps aside a spoonful of sauce, anointed with more olive oil.

And in the evening, I tossed the peas into a mixing bowl where they were tossed and coated with the sauce before a purely aesthetic addition of black and white sesame seeds.

This is good eating, pure and simple. I’m sure you’ll agree.