Bonito is fished out of the waters of the Tuscan archipelago between spring and summer, and again in early autumn. It’s a decent-sized, delicious oily fish, often sold whole in its armour of silver stripes. Though its flesh is rather similar to tuna, it’s significantly cheaper – in fact, it’s often known as ‘poor man’s tuna’. Preserving it in flavoured oil is the perfect way to ensure you always have some of this tasty fish on hand to whip up a quick meal.
Essentially tinned tuna but better, bonito in oil is delicious just as it is, served as part of an antipasto platter. But my favourite way to have this is with an impromptu salad dressed in red wine vinegar and olive oil with white cannellini beans and thinly sliced red onion that’s had a 10-minute soak in some cold water. It’s also great crumbled into some tomato and basil pasta sauce or on a panino with sliced boiled eggs and parsley or fresh tomatoes and lemon zest. And you could use it in place of the tinned mackerel in the following recipe for a fish salad.
This recipe is adapted from a Tuscan recipe book on the cuisine of Elba Island, Zuppe e Stornelli (1991), by Alvaro Claudi and Sergio Rossi. I recommend using smaller jars – as opposed to 2 jars of 500 ml capacity each – so that you can quickly consume the opened jars.