Tuna Dip Recipe with Black Olives and Walnuts for a Venetian Cicchetti Favourite

Tuna dip recipe with black olives and walnuts. Copyright Lara Dunston Terence Carter Grantourismo 2025

Tuna Dip Recipe with Black Olives and Walnuts for a Venetian Cicchetti Favourite

This tuna dip recipe with black olives and walnuts is inspired by a classic creamy tuna, walnut and black olive spread piled on crostini to make the open sandwich or tartina that’s a popular Venetian cicchetto or snack. Venetian cicchetti are Venice’s take on Italian aperitivo appetisers — the equivalent of Spanish tapas or Basque pintxos. This tuna, black olive and walnut dip is based on a cicchetto we love served at a popular local bacaro. Our recipe makes four large open sandwiches or eight smaller crostini.

Prep Time15

Cook Time0

Total Time15

Course: Appetiser, starter, antipasto, snack

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: Bowl

Calories: 1058kcal

Author: Lara Dunston

Equipment

Ingredients

4 tbsp walnuts crushed roughly in a mortar and pestle
370 g canned tuna two 185g cans of tuna in olive oil or brine, drained,
16 black olives good quality, such as Kalamata, pitted, roughly chopped
3 tbsp fresh parsley roughly chopped
3 tbsp creamy mayonnaise or more to taste
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil and more for the toast and drizzling
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cracked black pepper
4 crusty bread slices toasted, or 8 baguette slices

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

In a small mortar, use a pestle to roughly crush the walnuts so you have a mix of chunky pieces to stir through the tuna dip, and crumbs to sprinkle on top. Set aside.
To a mixing bowl, add the drained tuna and use a fork to break up any large chunks. Then add three tablespoons of crushed walnuts (save finer nut crumbs for sprinkling); all but a tablespoon (for garnishing) of chopped pitted black olives; all but a teaspoon (for garnishing) of chopped fresh parsley; two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil; and the mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
Use a fork to combine the lot well so ingredients are evenly distributed, but the tuna dip still has some texture, then refrigerate so the flavours meld together.
Toast four crusty bread slices if making tartinas or open sandwiches, or eight baguette slices if serving smaller snacks. These portions assume you’ll generously pile on the tuna, but you could spread on half as much and stretch to double the portions if you’re feeding a crowd.
When ready to serve, pour a little extra virgin olive oil into a small dish and use a pastry brush to brush it onto the toasts, and generously spoon the tuna dip on top of each.
Sprinkle on the remaining chopped olive pieces, crushed walnuts and parsley, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately. You could also serve the tuna dip in a bowl with crackers or crostini on the side and let guests help themselves.

Nutrition