PrintCook the Book: Frico Tacos with Mache
Delicate and airy, frico tacos are lace doilies of cooled, melted cheese. There's a brief window between removing it from the hot pan and setting it down to cool where a frico can be molded into any shape you choose. Here, Martha Stewart uses taco-shaped frico as a receptacle for lamb's leaf lettuce, but I've often made larger frico bowls, using a muffin tin as a mold, for use as an edible vessel for peppery arugula salad.
Frico Tacos with Mache
- makes 2 dozen -
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook by Martha Stewart.
Ingredients
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 small shallot, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 small bunches mache, leaves picked to yield about 2 cups
1 recipe Asiago Frico, taco-shaped (recipe follows)
Procedure:
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, shallots, and mustard. Whisk in the olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Gently toss the mache with the vinaigrette. Carefully place the mache into the frico tacos and serve. Assemble as close to serving time as possible.
Asiago Frico
- makes 2 dozen 4-inch frico -
Ingredients:
9 ounces Asiago cheese, grated on the fine holes of a box grater to yield 3 1/2 cups
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Procedure:
1. In a medium bowl, toss the cheese and the flour together. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cheese into the pan to form a circle about 4 inches in diameter.
2. Cook until the cheese is somewhat melted but not firm, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the cheese over and cook until it is visibly firm and just taking on a little color, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Drape the frico over a large rolling pin or place on paper towels until cool. To make frico tacos, transfer the frico from the pan to a paper towel and hold it in the palm of your hand. Depress an offset spatula down the meddle to form a taco shape. Transfer to paper towels to cool. Repeat with the remaining cheese.
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2 Comments:
i'm shocked that even martha incorrectly pluralizes hors d'oeuvre. we've dumbed-down and american-ized french cooking to its detriment, so maybe we could at least be respectful of their language. according to the "food lovers companion "...the word hors d'oeuvre literally translates as "(dishes) outside the work (meal)" and no matter how many dishes there are, there is only one work. the word "hors d'oeuvre is properly used for the singular and the plural." as in, "...i made several hors d'oeuvre for the party." get with the program, martha. et merci.
pcullie at 10:47AM on 12/27/08
@pcullie - I don't think this is a Martha issue. We rarely refer to a single paparazzo or raviolo, and neither do we eat multiple "pizze", as the Italians do. Once a foreign word is incorporated into the English language, it bends to our will. And I say that as a degreed, former French teacher :)
Michele Humes at 10:22PM on 12/27/08