Broccoli gets a punchy-good companion.

Imagine your favorite tuna salad sandwich — but in creamy, thick dip form.

That’s the beauty of the Italian classic of tonnato, made with good-quality, oil-packed tuna whizzed in a food processor until smooth with olive oil, mayonnaise, and lemon juice.

It’s traditionally served with cold veal that’s been braised or simmered. You might think the combination of tuna sauce and meat a strange one. But it’s actually an inspired marriage that’s proved a happy coupling for generations. It’s like how opposites attract: a mild-mannered tasting veal gets brought to the foreground by the exploits of its more exuberant, brash, salty-sassy sauce.

But tonnato can go with so much more, as Chef Joshua McFadden shows in his new cookbook, “Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables” (Artisan), of which I received a review copy. McFadden, owner of Ava Gene’s restaurant in Portland, OR; wrote the cookbook with Martha Holmberg, CEO of the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

The book delves deeper into the seasons so that you learn what’s best not just in spring, summer, fall, and winter but during the in-between times as one season starts to disappear into another.

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