Maiale Tonnato Crostini

When in Piemonte, one must try its regional dishes. I honoured that motto fairly well – I went wild with the stuzzichini, got jolly on Asti, but… where I fell, I tumbled quite significantly.

Vitello Tonnato appeared everywhere in Turin; veal drenched in, what looked like, a tuna mayonnaise. Yet, I never once popped it into my mouth.

Mental images of V.T. have bruised my brain for the past year. The only way forward was to reconstruct it on English turf. Admittedly unauthentic; I substituted the main ingredient, veal, for pork, and flipped the classic construction on its head.

But, the tuna, caper, anchovy ‘mayo’ was a hit, and, until Turin & I meet again, this will happily do.

🐷 Makes 4 crostini

Tonnato

• 1/2 200g can of tuna steaks in sunflower or olive oil (don't ditch the oil, use it!)

• 1/2 tsp capers

• 2 anchovies (optional)

• juice of 1/4 lemon

• 1/4 garlic clove

• 50ml extra-virgin olive oil

• a few grinds black pepper

Pork

• approx 100g pork tenderloin

• generous knob slightly salted butter

• a few leaves sage

1. Chuck the 'Tonnato' ingredients into your blender, and whizz them up until a smooth paste.

2. Cut your pork tenderloin into thin strips.

3. Heat up a frying pan with a generous knob of butter, and a few fresh sage leaves.

4. Fry your pork until golden on both sides.

5. Toast your crostini, and treat them to a rub of raw garlic.

6. Spoon on your tonnato first, then a couple of slices of pork per crostino.

7. Spruce up with sage, and your Maiale Tonnato's ready to go.