In my last post, I shared a virtual tour of Contratto, Italy’s oldest sparkling wine house, based on the visit Greg and I made there during our recent trip to Italy. While tasting through the wines, our guide Elisa mentioned that she really enjoyed the Contratto bubblies with the classic Piedmontese dish Vitello Tonnato. Her favorite version of this dish happens to be the one made by Giovanna Rivetti, Contratto and Spinetta’s vineyard manager and in-house chef. Giovanna is also the sister of owner and winemaker Giorgio Rivetti. I knew I’d have to try it!
Vitello Tonnato is really a kind of surf ‘n’ turf involving cold, thinly sliced veal with a creamy, mild tuna sauce. It’s served chilled or at room temperature as an appetizer or a light main dish. We had several versions of it while traveling around the northern part of the country, and it seemed to be one of those dishes that each cook put a slight spin on within a generally accepted parameters.
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| Vitello Tonnato served at Marchesi di Barolo. This style's more in keeping with Elisa's description of her preferred take on the dish. These slices were ethereally thin and light. Extremely delicate. This will be the goal next time. |
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| Vitello Tonnato served at Al Moro in Rome. Vitello Tonnato is a Piedmontes dish, so a Roman version is likely to be less traditional. However, since I was trying to make due with the ingredients I had available, my version this time was more reminiscent of this style. |
I wrote Elisa (with whom we’d had such a lovely time) to see if she could send me Giovanna’s recipe and she very kindly obliged. Funny enough, I happened upon it by accident after the fact on La Spinetta’s website. Nonetheless, the version Elisa sent me had some extra tips and tricks, so I’ve combined the two below.
I was eager to try this version, but sadly, the season was against me. I checked with several stores and butchers in the area to find the right cut of veal, but I think it’s late in the year to find many options. All I could find was thinly cut slices of leg meat as one would use for scallopini. I was disappointed to not try Giovanna’s version, but was determined to roll with the punches.
Since the slices I had available were thin and could potentially be overcooked, I thought this dish might be a good candidate to prepare sous vide, which allows you set your desired finished cooking temperature exactly. As the dish is served cold and doesn’t really require browning, I didn’t think would be necessary to sear them in a pan afterward, and so could essentially go straight to plate after cooling down post cooking in the circulator.
I way generally pleased with the outcome of my little experiment, and it wasn’t unlike some of the versions we had in Italy. The one downside to my sous vide version (as least when using the thin-cut veal slices) is that you lose the pretty, rosy color achieved by using Giovanna’s version. (It might be doable if you sous vide a larger cut of meat, but that’s for a future experiment.) The plus side is that my method here allows you to go from cooking to plate in just over an hour, where the classic version is typically made a day in advance.
Given that I’d be losing out on the rosy color, I tried to infuse a bit of extra flavor while cooking the meat, so I tossed some aromatic veggies and herbs in the cooking bag with the veal. I happened to have leeks on hand and I’m always looking for uses for the green portions, so used them here. You could just as easily use green onions, onion slices, or chives.
I made and chilled the sauce while the veal cooked. I based my quantities for the sauce on this recipe by Andrew Zimmerman on Food & Wine, as Elisa hadn’t been able to find quantities as they normally make it to taste. To be honest, you really don’t need them. You can just mix the ingredients bit by bit and adjust until you get a flavor you like. You’ll likely have some sauce leftover. This was not an issue for us and we loved this sauce! I found it lovely spread on toast with grilled tomato slices, and I also mixed some into a tuna salad for a little tuna on tuna action.
I served it all with a very simple salad on top. To make this a full meal, I added simply roasted potatoes and thick slices of country bread grilled with butter on top. (This particular loaf came from Base Camp Bakery. If you happen to be in Oakland, their awesome bread is very worth searching out!)
I’m still hoping to the make Giovanna’s version, but I will have to wait until spring or summer and I will report back when I do.
THE WINE PAIRING
On our visit to Contratto, Elisa had specified For England Rosé as her favorite match for this dish. Sadly, this one is a bit hard to find near me. Contratto’s Millesimato Pas Dosé 2012 is more easily available, and given that this is their “all-purpose” pairing wine, it seemed worth giving it a shot.
Full disclosure, while not exactly a submitted sample, I ultimately got a bottle of the wine through my friend Julie who works with Skurnik, the importer. It was actually also on Julie’s recommendation that we found our way to Contratto on our trip. (Thanks on all fronts, lady!) All opinions, as always, are my own and no compensation was received.
This combo made a lovely match! The Millesimato was crisp and refreshing as expected, but also had enough body to match this light meat dish. We both thought the pairing worked particularly well when the buttery bread was included, as it spoke to the wine’s toasty and ripe pear notes. Yum!
For a full description of this and other Contratto wines, please see my last post.
OTHER POSSIBILITIES
On La Spinetta’s site, they recommend Chardonnay as a pairing for this dish, and I could absolutely see this making a good match. To be honest, I think a wide range of white wines could work quite well here.
Elsewhere on our travels, we had Vitello Tonnato with Barbera, Langhe Nebbiolo, and other light red wines. If you’re looking for a red here, the key is keep it light! A big red is likely to quickly overpower the delicate flavors of this dish, and aggressive tannins would be way too much for the veal.
Bubblies are among the most versatile of food pairing wines, so I think you can try this wine with A LOT and come out happy. We discussed a few other options for this one last time.
MONEY TALK
The average price for this is $27, which I think is a very good price for a high quality traditional method sparkling wine, making it a very Solid Value and maybe even an Overachiever.
