Luca Lazzari
Sous Chef
Nice weekend in the Friuli region, NE Italy, with my old school friend Marco. I ate really well, not suprisingly, and spent very little, somewhat surprisingly... And I discovered a gooood culatello, the culatello from Sauris. But the most typical local recipe that we tasted was the "frico" with potatoes, that is cheese cooked with mashed potatoes.
4 servings: dice 400 g of Montasio cheese (or Asiago) into small pieces, then boil 400 g of potatoes and mash them up roughly with a fork. Put the mashed potatoes in a pan and sauté for 5 minutes (without adding fats). Add the cheese and press it into the mashed potatoes with a fork. Try to form a round shape with the potatoes and cheese in the pan. When the fritter is brown on the bottom, turn it without breaking it and get the other side brown, too. When both sides have turned brown, turn off the heat and leave for a couple of minutes, then remove the frico from the pan and serve it! The result must be crisp outside and soft inside.
It's very simple, no fats, no added salt, just cheese and potatoes, but it's really tasty!
Ciao! Or, as they say in Friuli, mandi!
4 servings: dice 400 g of Montasio cheese (or Asiago) into small pieces, then boil 400 g of potatoes and mash them up roughly with a fork. Put the mashed potatoes in a pan and sauté for 5 minutes (without adding fats). Add the cheese and press it into the mashed potatoes with a fork. Try to form a round shape with the potatoes and cheese in the pan. When the fritter is brown on the bottom, turn it without breaking it and get the other side brown, too. When both sides have turned brown, turn off the heat and leave for a couple of minutes, then remove the frico from the pan and serve it! The result must be crisp outside and soft inside.
It's very simple, no fats, no added salt, just cheese and potatoes, but it's really tasty!
Ciao! Or, as they say in Friuli, mandi!