This is a special salad worthy of your homemade tonno sott’olio. You blanch the tomatoes and scallions, and briefly sauté the red onion to mellow pungency and soften textures. The salad needs a good hour of marinating to let the sweet and savory flavors mingle. Incidentally, leftovers make great juicy sandwiches. I recommend white balsamic vinegar here, to wilt the red onion and dress the salad. White balsamic is not a traditional product, but it comes from Modena, like any decent balsamic, and it has a clean taste and a light color that don’t muddy dishes the way dark balsamic can. If you can’t find it, use regular wine vinegar. You may also use top-quality canned tuna in this salad, but drain and discard the packing oil and substitute fresh extra-virgin olive oil in the dressing and sauté.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6 as a first course, 10 or more as part of an antipasto spread

　　8 ounces or so homemade Tonno sott’Olio (about 1/3 of a full batch: page 10) or imported Italian tuna packed in olive oil

　　4-ounce bunch of scallions (about a dozen)

　　1 pint cherry and/or pear tomatoes, preferably mixed colors and shapes

　　1 small red onion (3 or 4 ounces)

　　2 tablespoons tonno-marinating oil or fresh extra-virgin olive oil

　　1/4 teaspoon salt

　　1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar

　　3 tablespoons tiny capers in brine, drained, or less to taste

　　

For Dressing

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

　　4 tablespoons tonno-marinating oil or fresh extra-virgin olive oil, or to taste

　　4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar, or more to taste

　　1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

　　Freshly ground black pepper to taste

　　

Prepping the Salad Ingredients

Step 1

Drain the tuna: save the oil from homemade tonno; discard the oil from canned tuna. Trim the scallions and remove all loose or wilted layers, keeping all the tight and tender white and green; don’t cut them.

　　

Step 2

Rinse the tomatoes and make a slit in the skin at the stem end of each. Bring 2 quarts of water to the boil in a saucepan; set up a bowl of icy water nearby. Drop in the tomatoes and blanch for about 1/2 minute; scoop them from the pot and drop into the ice water.

　　

Step 3

Now blanch the scallions in the boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, just to soften them, then refresh in the ice water. Drain the chilled tomatoes; peel off and discard the skin. Lift out the chilled scallions, pat dry with paper towels, and slice crosswise into 1-inch lengths.

　　

Step 4

Peel the onion, trim the ends, and slice lengthwise in quarters; cut the wedges crosswise in half. If using a big onion, slice up a heaping cup of 1-inch wedge-shaped pieces. Put the onion pieces and the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium skillet set over medium-high heat. Sprinkle on 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cook, toss, and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, to get all the onion pieces sizzling and softening, then pour in the white balsamic vinegar. Toss the onion in the vinegar for a minute or so, then transfer to a mixing bowl.

　　

Assembling, Dressing, and Marinating the Salad

Step 5

When the onions have cooled a bit, break apart the drained tuna into 1-inch chunks and drop them in the bowl with the scallions and the capers. Toss together, then sprinkle the dressing ingredients over them and toss some more. Drop the peeled tomatoes into the bowl, and fold them into the salad so they’re coated with dressing but don’t break apart.

　　

Step 6

Let the salad marinate for an hour or so. Adjust the seasonings and dressings to taste, and serve on a big platter or individual plates.

　　From Lidia's Family table by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright (c) 2004 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Published by Knopf.Lidia Bastianich hosts the hugely popular PBS show, "Lidia's Italian-American kitchen" and owns restaurants in New York City, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. Also the author of Lidia's Italian Table and Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen, she lives in Douglaston, New York. Jay Jacob's journalism has appeared in many national magazines.From the Trade Paperback edition.