Rosso Carpaccio

Carpaccio

Where do names of dishes come from? Well, This is a painting by Vittorio Carpaccio, Venice, 1465-1525. Look at those vibrant reds. Red was a color depicting wealth. It was derived from a small bug which lives in a cactus, the cocciniglia, Dactylopius Coccus.In Florence, it is also used to color the liquore Alkermes which we use a lot in dessert making as a soak for cakes.

But it was Giuseppe Cipriani, of Harry’s Bar in Venice, who created the raw beef dish called Carpaccio in honor of a large show of the artist’s work in Venice in the  1950’s. For a real insight from someone who knows, check out my friend Eleanora Baldwin’s story.

I first discovered Carpaccio at the restaurant/bar Prego in San Francisco. It was where I discovered the real Italian cooking direct from Italy. More of a taste of Milano, Venice and Florence rather than Naples and Sicily. Interesting the variety in regional cooking. I think today, people don’t realize how important regional cooking is and how Italians really respect it.

I remember eating the carpaccio at Prego’s with mustard and the capers and wrapping it around pencil-thin breadsticks. It was a favorite.

Today, we do our own simple version. My husband has his simply with lemon and olive oil, the lemon cooking the meat a little like a it does with a ceviche.   I like adding the Pollack-like Mustard sauce I make for a kick. A few capers and then we build it up into a bigger dish.

Now, anything sliced thin and served like this is called a carpaccio, such as raw artichokes, zucchini slices or even cured fish. It’s a perfect light meal for summer and you don’t even need a recipe.

 

We always use lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Dress it up with a light sauce, I do like mustard, if it’s too strong, stir a little mustard into some mayonaise to lighten it.

Then use a potato peeler to shave some parmigiano on top.

We added capers and some of my pickled chile peppers.

Keep it simple in summer #summerrosso