Recently Antonio Carluccio presented a one-off documentary-slash-pilgrimage, following in the footsteps of Bartolomeo Scappi. If you’re saying, “Who?” then you’re not alone. I’d never heard of him either, but the trailers billed him as the world’s first celebrity chef, back in the sixteenth century, no less.

Scappi cooked for several cardinals before being appointed chef to Pope Pius IV. Little is known of his early life, but all scholars agree that it was the publication of his master-work Opera dell’arte del cucinare that made him the culinary superstar of his time. Nobles and wannabe-nobles bought copies for their cooks, making it an almost instant bestseller.

During the course of the documentary, Carluccio cooked several dishes from Opera. Apart from the (overly) generous use of sugar and spices–both reflected the wealth of the people he cooked for–the food was not completely dissimilar to what we think of today as Italian food.

This sweet and sour tuna dish is an adaptation by Anna del Conte of one of Scappi’s recipes in Opera. I must admit that I felt some relief when I saw that the sweetness came from fruit rather than a copious handful of sugar. Of course, this may be Anna’s adaptation at work. Either way, I’d rather eat some yummy prunes than plain old sugar.

As Anna del Conte notes in her recipe introduction, the sweet and sour tempers the oiliness of the tuna. It also enhances the texture of the fish and makes it meatier–always a good thing! The amount of spice may look as though it will overwhelm the fish, but trust me. It all works out very nicely indeed–I might actually add more next time! The sauce is overall very gentle and almost refined in flavour.

Ideally you should use individual portions of tuna, and not one huge steak like I did. I’m not sure it registered mentally how large the tuna was when I asked the fishmonger for two 2cm-thick steaks… 800g and £14 later, it certainly hit home!

Trance di Tonno in Salsa Rinascimentale
–Tuna Steaks in a Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

Source: The Gastronomy of Italy by Anna del Conte
Serves 2

6 pitted prunes
50ml dry white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 fresh tuna steaks, no more than 2cm thick.
1/2 shallot, very finely sliced
3/4 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon saffron strands
50ml meat stock

Soak the prunes in the wine for about an hour. Grease a shallow roasting tin with some of the olive oil and lay the tuna steaks in it.

Put the remaining oil, the shallot, balsamic vinegar,nutmeg,cloves, cinnamon, salt and pepper into a pan and bring to the boil.

Lift the prunes out of the wine and add the wine to the saucepan. Crush the saffron and add to the pan along with the stock, Stir well and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C. Cut the prunes into thin strips and scatter over the fish.

Taste and adjust the seasoning of the sauce then spoon evenly over the fish. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until the fish is just cooked through. Baste twice during cooking.