Pork with tuna sauce
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Veal tonnato is one of Italy's most beloved dishes, and this Spanish-inspired twist replaces the veal with pork and uses the best Spanish tuna and anchovies to – dare we say it – improve upon the original. The sauce is essentially a tuna-flavoured mayonnaise which might sound a bit weird if you've never had it before. For those of us who have, however, it's an incredible thing to slather over cold cuts of all kinds.
Ingredients
- 1kg pork loin , boneless, skin removed
- 1 sprig of thyme , leaves picked
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tin of tuna , ideally Spanish and top quality
- 1 small tin of anchovies , ideally Spanish, drained
- 1 tbsp of capers , ideally Spanish
- 280ml of olive oil
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 lemon , juiced
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
1
I like to serve pork a little pink, which isn’t to everyone’s taste. If you prefer your pork cooked through, then add on 20 minutes to the suggested cooking time below
2
Preheat an oven to 200°C fan/gas mark 5. If your loin of pork is very fatty, then trim the fat so that you have a 1cm border around the meat
3
Pound the garlic clove and thyme leaves in a pestle and mortar until you have a paste. Add 30ml olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Rub this all over the pork loin
4
Place your loin in a baking dish, fat-side down and put in the oven. Turn the pork over after 20 minutes and cook for a further 25 minutes. The loin should be cooked by this time. To check, place a metal skewer into the centre of the meat and leave for a few seconds. The skewer should feel hot but not burning hot. Allow the pork to cool completely
5
While the pork cools, make your sauce. Put the tuna, egg yolk and lemon juice in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper. Turn the processor on and blend until the ingredients become a smooth purée. With the motor still running, slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil in a thin stream. If the mixture seems a little thick after adding all the oil then add a splash of water. The sauce wants to be roughly the thickness of yoghurt. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed
6
Once the pork is cool, slice it as thinly as possible using a sharp knife. Layer the slices on a large plate or platter. If you have some nice roasting juices from the pork then drizzle a few spoons of this over the pork. Taste a slice and adjust the seasoning appropriately
7
Generously slather the tuna sauce over the pork. Drape the anchovies on top and sprinkle over the capers
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Pork with tuna sauce
