Valencian titaina recipe from the Cabanyal

Titaina looks like a pisto, but it has tuna, and that changes it completely. It is one of those larder-and-vegetable-garden preparations that are made slowly and improve the next day. This recipe follows a single version, Directo al Paladar’s for four servings.

Tonyina de sorra: what it is and how to treat it

The ingredient that distinguishes it is tuna belly, which in the traditional recipe is salted: what is known as tonyina de sorra. If you buy it that way, it has to be soaked for at least 8 hours, and that shapes the whole plan: you put it in water the night before. If you find only fresh tuna, it is cleaned and cut into small pieces. The same source allows fresh bonito in season or a good-quality tinned tuna, and if you use salted tonyina there is no need to add salt to the vegetables.

With the tuna belly it is the same as with the salt cod in other recipes: badly done soaking is what you pay for. In the rice with salt cod and cauliflower you can see how the changes of water work.

The order in the pot

First go the garlic and pine nuts, over a low heat, until they barely take colour, without letting them burn. Then the tuna is browned and set aside. In that same pot, with more oil, the peppers are softened until tender. The tomato goes in and is cooked for about 30 minutes over a low heat, until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Only then does the tuna come back, cooked for at least 10 minutes more; if you leave it up to 30 over a low heat, it comes out creamier. At the end, taste and adjust the salt and the acidity: the tomato rules, and each one is different. If you want to fill empanadillas (small turnovers), reduce the sauce until it thickens.

It is not the sofrito of a rice: here the tomato and the peppers are the dish, not the base of something else.

The tomato and the peppers

The list asks for a kilo of fresh tomato; the source itself allows about 800 g if tinned, as long as it is good quality. The peppers, two green Italian and one red, are peeled if you like and cut into small dice. If you peel them, a peeler works well; seeds out.

The source warns that there are several versions according to the habits of whoever makes it: some add onion and others use only red pepper. Choose one and don’t mix measures from two different recipes.

Cold, lukewarm or hot

It is served cold in summer, and lukewarm or hot when it turns cooler. Bread is essential, and titaina goes well with hard-boiled egg or with Spanish potato omelette. It works as a filling for pepitos (small filled rolls), toasts, montaditos, empanadillas and thin-dough cocas; in that case, reduce it further until thick. In fact, the tuna coca is another preparation with tonyina, although its filling is not this one.

It keeps for several days in an airtight container in the fridge and improves after a few hours’ rest. For a tapas spread, the esgarraet and the pericana make a good team.

Mistakes that will cost you

• Not soaking the tonyina long enough. It would be salty.
• Burning the garlic or pine nuts. They are softened over a low heat.
• Putting everything in at once. The tuna is browned and set aside; the peppers go in before the tomato.
• Cutting short the cooking of the tomato. Almost all the liquid has to evaporate.

If there are lots of you at the table

Titaina holds up well made in advance, and for tapas and montaditos it works in quantity. If there are lots of you, we cook for groups at local fiestas.