Tuna Croquettes for Days of Abstinence - - Crocchette di Magro al Tonno

Continuing the introduction, many of the solutions for eating protein during meatless periods are based on baccalà, dried, salted cod, or stoccafisso, which is plain dried cod. But there are other solutions as well. In Versilia, the coastal plain north of Pisa, they also make fish balls using canned tuna.

Take a quarter pound (100 g drained weight) of tuna packed in oil and put it in a bowl, adding equal volumes of milk and water to cover. Let it sit for 2 hours. In the meantime, prepare a thick béchamel sauce by heating 1/2 tablespoon of butter with a half tablespoon of flour, whisking gently, and when the mixture becomes golden, whisking in a cup of milk, adding the milk in a thin stream and stirring briskly to avoid the formation of lumps. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens.

Shortly before the meal, drain the tuna and shred it. Combine it with the béchamel sauce, and stir in 1 heaping tablespoon of freshly grated Parmigiano, a pinch each of salt and pepper, an egg yolk (reserve the white), and a tablespoon of breadcrumbs; should the mixture be lumpy put it through a strainer. Beat the reserved white to firm peaks. Make so many balls the size of small walnuts from the tuna mixture, dip them in the egg white, roll them in breadcrumbs, and fry them. Drain them on absorbent paper, and keep them hot until you serve them.

A wine? A zesty white, along the lines of a Vermentino dei Colli di Luni.