Put the carrot, celery, parsley, onion and a pinch of coarse salt in a saucepan (large enough to contain the meat as well) with enough cold water to cover the meat. Put the pan on the stove and bring the water to the boil. Now add the meat and leave to simmer for roughly an hour over a moderate heat (the meat must cook very slowly). In the meanwhile prepare the mayonnaise (1). Chop the tuna with the capers, gherkins and desalted and cleaned anchovies; delicately stir this mixture and the juice of the lemon into the mayonnaise. When the meat is cooked, lay it on a chopping board to cool with a light weight on top of it. When it is cold, slice it thinly with a sharp knife and arrange the slices, in a single layer, on a serving dish. Cover with the tuna sauce and garnish with slices of carrot, either raw or briefly blanched, and with a few capers. Leave the “vitello tonnato” in the fridge for a few hours, covered with cling film, so that it gains flavour.

This dish has many advantages: it can be prepared in advance, even the day before (it’ll be even tastier); leftover meat, both roast and boiled, can be “recycled” (with excellent results!) by slicing it thinly and dressing it with the sauce, following the recipe – it’s delicious! Another tip: if you like carpaccio (very thin slices of raw beef seasoned in various ways) you can “take advantage” of the tuna sauce as a dressing, it goes really well with it.

(1) Here is the recipe

La maionese “di casa” (= Homemade mayonnaise)

Ingredients for 4 people:
250 ml extra virgin olive oil
2 egg yolks (with the whites removed completely)
½ untreated lemon
1 tsp water
1 tsp sifted plain flour
salt
(for best results we recommend that you use all the ingredients at the same temperature)

Put the egg yolks in a small bowl and add the water and flour, mixing well with a whisk to amalgamate everything. Now start adding the oil drop by drop, stirring all the time (use one hand to pour in the drops of oil, it’s important that they really are only drops, and use the other hand to stir constantly). The egg yolks will gradually thicken, and the mayonnaise will acquire its lovely, finished appearance. When you have incorporated all the oil into the mixture, continue stirring and add a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of lemon juice (we recommend that you always taste first, and then add the salt and lemon a little at a time – it’s best to only add a little at the beginning and then more as required).