Several years ago, in Singapore, I made “Frico” which are essentially crisps made by melting little pools of Parmesan in the oven and letting them form lacy crisps. In theory, they would have made excellent little hors-d’oeuvres served with some soft mache leaves. Sadly, in the humid Singapore weather, that was not to be.
When I came across this carpaccio recipe in Palomar’s cookbook, I loved the thought of the use of Parmesan crisps with Carpaccio, it sounded like the perfect counterfoil to meltingly tender beef.
There are quite a few ingredients in this carpaccio, but it’s worth the effort of bringing them all together for this dish. The combination works superbly and lifts this simple dish to another level. I have made a few changes to the recipe, but it largely follows the original.
I find it easiest to grate the Parmesan in a food processor as it’s a relatively large quantity. You can also make more Frico, and store them in an airtight container and use in salads, or to nibble along with a glass of wine.
Note: When I made this, asparagus wasn’t in season, so I used some blanched green beans instead.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 150 g parmesan cheese finely grated
- 200 g non-aged beef fillet (if you can get the butcher to slice it thinly against the grain. If not, see notes below)
- few drops aged balsamic vinegar
- Small handful fresh basil
- Sea salt flakes &; pepper to taste
- 4 pieces asparagus spears woody end snapped off and then cut into 11/2”
- 1/2 red onion finely chopped
- 1-2 grilled artichoke hearts from a deli or taken from a good quality jar
- 1/2 lemon
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- few drops truffle oil
- 2 tablespoons walnuts
Ingredients
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- To make the Parmesan crisps (Frico) - Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan). Line a baking tray lined with a silicone sheet or baking parchment. Divide the grated Parmesan into 4 and spread each one into a rough circle by spreading it out with a spoon. Leave space in between them.
- Bake in the hot oven for 4-5 minutes until melted golden brown. Take out and leave the crisp and cool.
- If your oven has multiple shelves toast the walnuts simultaneously (or after the crisps are done) for 4-5 minutes. Cool and roughly chop.
- Blanch the asparagus in some boiling water for just 45 seconds and plunge into iced water to stop the cooking.
- Divide the slices of beef into four batches then place a flat layer of each batch with a little olive oil between two sheets of cling wrap. Bang gently with the meat hammer and the meat is super thin, but not shredded! If you don’t have a meat hammer a heavy saucepan should do the trick.
- Chop the basil into a chiffonade. Do this by placing 4-5 leaves on top of each other, roll and slice thinly with a sharp knife.
- To serve, remove the top sheet of cling wrap from each batch of carpaccio and flip it meat-face down on a serving plate. Then peel off the bottom sheet that has now become the top sheet.
- Season each carpaccio with sea salt flakes and black pepper. Sprinkle with the onion, asparagus, artichokes and basil on each plate. Dress with a squeeze of lemon juice, olive oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar. Finally, drizzle a few drops of truffle oil. Just before serving, break up the Parmesan crisps and scatter over the plates together with the chopped walnuts.
To slice the beef thinly: Wrap well and freeze for about 1 hour until it feels quite firm. Take out and slice as thinly as you can. My slices look very uniform as I used my meat slicer!