Tonnato Sauce

Last night, on the verge of almost being able to clear out my pantry of old cans, condiments and canoodles, I started listing random ingredients into some of the most popular online recipe websites to see what I could concoct with my sad and spare collection of leftovers. I had a tin of tongol tuna, some capers, half a jar of mayo, a tin of anchovies, a jar of roasted red peppers, a jar of dried oysters, ginseng, wolfberries, etc. etc.

Almost immediately, I found an obscure Italian recipe for something called "tonnato" sauce. Don't let that confuse you with "tomato" sauce because it doesn't contain one ion of the red fruit. It's based on tinned tuna packed in olive oil, mayo and anchovies and I knew I would love it.

The actual recipe for tonnato is paired with herb roasted veal or turkey cutlets, but since I am getting over a cold, the thought of protein upon protein wasn't too appealing. Instead, I substituted some portobello tortellini that were getting dry and yellow around the edges after having sat for too long on the bottom shelf of my refrigerator (note to self: fresh pasta needs to be eaten a day or two after purchase or make. Always.).

In a big bowl, I mixed half a jar of mayo, the juice of one lemon, one big heaping tablespoon of capers, fresh black ground pepper, one minced anchovy fillet, a tin of tongol tuna flakes, a 1/8-1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. I used my handy dandy hand blender and pureed until most of the mixture was smooth, and I also left some tasty big bits of capers because I love the tangy pop.

Serve sauce chilled over warm tortellinis with a tiny handful of chopped flat leaf parsley and pair it with very dry white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc or South American/New Zealand Chardonnay. Oh my lord.