Pesce Finto, fake fish is on my list of favorite recipes that I learned from my mother-in-law, Tina. It is one I love to teach kids of all ages. Fabulous for parties, inexpensive and flavorful. She served it in a bowl.
Italy is surrounded by water, but in Florence we rarely eat fresh fish. They consider themselves too far away from the water. FYI, I think it is about an hour and a half to Livorno.
It is more common to eat the baccala, salt-cured cod ( baccala’), smoked mackerel ( sgombro), salt-cured anchovies ( acchiughe) or canned tuna (tonno), which is a personal favorite for a panino at a bar.
This is great to make for a party. Feeds a lot and is not expensive to make. Italians also like the Salsa Tonnata, tuna blended into a sauce with mayonnaise. I serve it on tomatoes for my Tomatoes Tonnati.
For a fun buffet, shape it like a fish and make scales with cucumbers and an olive slice for an eye.
To be finger food, you can fill little cherry tomatoes like I did for the foto.
Ingredients
- 1 pound potatoes
- 7 ounces tuna, drained
- Mayonnaise
- Capers
- Vinegar
- Salt
Instructions
- Boil unpeeled potatoes in salted water until tender, as for mashed potatoes.
- Peel potatoes while hot and mash with a fork.
- Add drained tuna and mix into potatoes.
- Add whole capers to taste and a good splash of the vinegar. (You can use the brine that the capers are packed in.)
- Stir to combine.
- Add enough mayonnaise to form a smooth, spreadable consistency.
- Taste to correct seasoning. Salt only if necessary.
- Give the Pesce Finto a fish shape on a serving dish. Make scales out of a peeled cucumber sliced paper-thin. Use capers for eyes. Before adding the "scales", cover with a thin layer of mayonnaise. Serve as an antipasto with crackers or bread or as a light second course.
- To avoid any problems caused by leaving food with mayonnaise out in the sun, I now omit the mayonnaise and use olive oil to make the fake fish creamier! Works great! After all, what is mayonnaise but oil, eggs, and lemon? Here in the recipe the vinegar gives the tang!