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Tomato Tuna Tonnato with Arugula, Capers, Moroccan Oil, Cured Olives and Green Onions
By Lauren Stacy Berdy
A really lovely luncheon dish for Passover... Pass the Matzoh Pass the delicious homemade tuna mayonnaise too, please.
A homemade mayonnaise is the birthright of this Italian tuna sauce. Italians know how to make a great mayonnaise. They use only egg yolks, salt and fruity olive oil. An emulsion happens between this troika and the miracle of Italian mayonnaise is born.
The simple act of a few drops of fruity olive oil continually whisked into egg yolks and salt will magically emulsify into a glistening sauce as thick as oil paint. A food processor will handle the constant mixing while you handle the judicious droplets of olive oil.
And then, you, too, will taste the wonder of a true mayonnaise.
This mayonnaise is then transformed into a tuna sauce by mixing in puréed canned olive oil tuna.
The tuna sauce is then used to cover each tomato slice with a blanket of divine silkiness.
Between each slice, a few leaves of arugula, olives, capers and green onions are sandwiched in, then used a final fanfare of garnish topping.
Choice ingredients are everything here. Buy a fruity extra virgin olive oil, good organic eggs and select tomatoes that have a reason for being.
Yield: 4 servings
Special Equipment: food processor, mixing bowl
Ingredients
4 flavorful tomatoes (at room temperature)
Mayonnaise Ingredients
3 extra large egg yolks at room temperature: checked
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 oz. fruity extra virgin olive oil
wedge of lemon, (using just a drop or two)
6 oz. can of tuna in olive oil, puréed
Garnish Ingredients
1 large (or 2 small bunches) arugula: washed twice, trimmed, checked and dried
½ cup capers: drained and rinsed twice, drained
12 black Moroccan olives: pitted and roughly chopped
4 green onions: washed, checked and sliced
Directions
Tuna Mayonnaise
Make sure the eggs are at room temperature. If refrigerated, just place them in warm tap water for 20 minutes.
Pour out the olive oil into a glass measuring cup. A spout will help to administer a slow, steady pour.
Separate and check the eggs. Keep the whites for another recipe. The whites can be frozen.
Have all the ingredients ready and within each reach.
Plop the yolks into the food processor bowl. Process the yolks for 5 seconds.
Add in the salt. Keep the motor running while slowly pouring 5 teaspoons of olive oil.
Wait another 3 seconds (motor running), then add in another 5 teaspoons.
Wait another 3 seconds (motor running) add in another 5 teaspoons.
The eggs will have absorbed all the oil that was admitted.
With the motor still running, add in all remaining olive oil in a very thin stream.
The mayonnaise should look glossy and thick like oil paint!
Keep the motor running. Squeeze one or at the most two drops of lemon juice into the mayonnaise (it’s not lemon mayonnaise). Process for 2 more seconds.
Scrape the mayonnaise out into another bowl. Don’t clean the processor bowl.
Open the tuna can: use its lid to press out all the oil.
Scrape the tuna into the food processor work bowl, then process for 5 seconds.
Scrape out the tuna into the mayonnaise. Combine the two.
Finishing
Prepare the garnish: Trim the arugula stems. Roughly chop the olives. Slice the green onions.
Get out over-sized plates.
Core and then slice each tomato into ½” thick slices. Lay one tomato slice down, centered on each serving plate.
Serving
Spread a thick layer of mayonnaise over the surface of the plated tomato slice.
Drop leaves of arugula over the slice. Scatter olives, capers and green onions about.
Build 2 more layers of tomato, mayo and garnish (a little extra garnish on the top one).
Pass any leftover dressing at the table.
Ideally, supply a sharp knife for each plated serving.
Note: The tonnato mayonnaise can be made, sealed and refrigerated three days before.
Ayelet’s Moroccan Salmon
Recipe from A Taste Of Pesach 2: Trusted Favorites ▪ Simple Preparation ▪ Magnificent Results
Artscroll/Shaar Press
Ayelet shares her Moroccan background with this absolutely scrumptious fish.
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green 1 red, 1 yellow pepper, all diced
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
4 plum tomatoes, diced
¼ teaspoon salt
Fresh chopped cilantro (checked)
Lemon slices
6 pieces salmon filet with skin
Directions
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium high heat; sauté garlic for a few seconds. Add all peppers; continue to sauté over low heat for about 30 minute, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes; cook for 10-15 minutes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place fish into a 9 x 13 pan, skin side down. Pour vegetable mixture over fish. Sprinkle cilantro over fish; lay lemon slices on top.
Cover; bake 35 minutes. Best served warm. Garnish with additional fresh chopped cilantro.
6 servings
Notes
Excerpted with permission by Remaining Kosher Volume Two: A Cookbook for All with a Hechsher in Their Heart
Lauren Stacy Berdy earned her professional diploma from Ecole de Cuisine, La Varenne Paris, France in 1978, then spent a few years working in Europe before bringing it home. She spent more than three decades as a private chef-caterer. She now resides 130 paces from the beach with her husband in Hollywood, Florida, where she wrote Remaining Kosher Volume One: A Cookbook For All With A Hechsher In Their Heart. This eBook is available on iTunes. Volume Two is well on its way.
Recipe: kosher, fish, Passover