Published by Tribune Media Services in July 2008
Ever attend a party where the food just knocks you over in both presentation and taste? Recently my husband and I had the unexpected pleasure of going to such a soiree. Hosted by a vegetarian friend, the gathering had, according to my soybean-hating spouse, the potential of being the “night of 1,000 tofus.”
Imagine his surprise when the evening instead featured dozens of colorful fruit and vegetable plates. Best offerings? Without a doubt, the zesty carpaccios and tartares.
Prior to this event, I had thought carpaccios and tartares to be synonymous with uncooked meat. That might have been how these foods began but it is not where they are today.
Carpaccio got its start in 1950 at Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy. Its creation involved the restaurant’s owner, Giuseppe Cipriani, regular customer Contessa Amali Nani Mocenigo, and her doctor’s admonition against eating cooked meat.
To appease both doctor and contessa, Cipriani served her paper-thin slices of raw filet mignon. Fanned out on a plate and topped with a white lattice work of mayonnaise and mustard sauce, it was a visual and gustatory delight.
Cipriani dubbed his masterpiece “beef carpaccio” for the Venetian Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio, whose red-and-white paintings reminded him of this fare. Almost 58 years later it remains the most popular item on Harry’s menu.
Across the Atlantic Rich Landau, chef and co-owner of Horizons Restaurant in Philadelphia, Penn., further challenged my meat eaters-only notion of carpaccio. His smoked portobello carpaccio with black olive blini, celery root remoulade and crispy capers updated this classic for vegetarians and carnivores alike.
“Carpaccio is just an elegant dish. And with the portobello I keep the ingredients simple, trying to enhance the flavors of the apple wood-smoked mushroom and also entertain the palate with salty, muskiness of the crispy capers,” Mr. Landau says.
His tips for making a great vegetable or fruit carpaccio? “Slice it thin and to order. I’m just a nut for freshness so, while I have tried pre-slicing, I find that the mushrooms work best when just opened up,” says Mr. Landau, who uses the same à la minute rule with his mango carpaccio dessert.
At home I set out to make my own carpaccio. As I had some fresh mozzarella and basil on hand, I opted for something easy on my first attempt. Mozzarella and basil carpaccio.
Using wire cheese knife, I sliced the cheese as thinly as possible then placed the pieces in a circle on a red charger. I then topped each slice with a basil leaf, grind of fresh black pepper, and dash of sea salt.
My lattice work of sauce? Aged balsamic vinegar poured from a fine-tipped, plastic squeeze bottle. Voila! First course ready for serving.
Encouraged by this success and by the plump pineapple ripening on my kitchen counter, I decided to whip up a dessert carpaccio. Here is where I faltered, ending up with a lot of sticky juice but little presentable fruit.
Although Ron Landau had advised using a long, well-sharpened knife, I thought that I might employ what several cookbooks had suggested – a Y-shaped vegetable peeler, mandoline or food processor. I should have listened to the chef.
The Y-shaped peeler mangled the top of the pineapple but never gained any purchase. Even the razor sharp mandoline struggled with the dense, pulpy flesh. Plus, the resultant rings were lopsided and much thicker than I had expected.
Of the three, the julienne attachment on my food processor created the most uniform carpaccio. Yet, these slender wedges were too small to feature on the dessert plate. In the end it was my trusty, 10-inch chef’s knife that did the trick.
The preparation rules for carpaccios likewise apply to tartares. Make them at the last minute using a long, sharp knife and fresh ingredients. Here the similarities end.
Unlike the 20th century carpaccio, tartares have been around since medieval times. The Tartars, a Turko-Mongol tribe from Central Asia, invented the eponymous meal. To make the tough, low quality meat – horse or beef – that they ate more palatable and digestible, the Tartars shredded it with a knife and ate it raw. Tartare was a delicacy borne out of necessity.
Over the years tartare evolved into a dish of finely diced, high quality, raw beef. Seasoned with salt, ground pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, it was shaped into a mound and accompanied by capers, onions, parsley and raw egg yolks. Modern tartares went on to feature such ingredients as fish, shellfish, fruit or vegetables.
For an inventive, vegetarian take on this archetype I visited Gobo Restaurant in Manhattan’s West Village. There Chef de Cuisine Yuki Chen offered a made-to-order tartare of avocado with wasabi lime sauce.
“When making vegetarian tartares, it is important to think about the taste and texture of the food. Gobo’s tartare mixes the soft creaminess of the avocado with the light crunchiness of puffed wheat on top. The wasabi and lime sauce is also a perfect contrast to the rich avocado. In addition we add a touch of our homemade seitan to make the texture even more interesting,” says Miss Chen, who also composed the menu for Zen Palate, which has multiple New York locations.
Her tip for home cooks who attempt to make a vegetable or fruit tartare? Use a simple, round mold to form it. “After the tartare takes shape, it is nice to see the ‘layers’ of a round tartare,” she says.
Back in my kitchen I removed the container filled with uneven pineapple rings from my refrigerator. Finally I had a purpose for all that mangled fruit.
After dicing the pineapple, along with two mangoes, I spooned the cubes into four six-ounce ramekins to form round, layered tartares. I then inverted each ramekin onto a dessert plate and sprinkled the tartares with coconut flakes and Malibu rum. What a simple, sweet and flavorful treat.
That’s what I love about tartares and carpaccios. Whether sliced or diced, they are easy, versatile, and tasty offerings.
Mediterranean Tartare
Serves 4
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 cucumber
4 ounces Haloumi cheese, diced
1 scallion, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
dash of salt, optional
Wash then cut the tomatoes into small cubes and place in a large bowl. Skin, slice into
quarters length-wise then remove the seeds of the cucumber. Once de-seeded, cut the cucumber into small pieces and place into the bowl. Add the Haloumi, minced scallion, mint and freshly ground black pepper to the bowl and toss the ingredients together.
Fill four 6-ounce ramekins with the tartare. Note that if you don’t own ramekins, you can
use four empty, lidless and washed tuna cans as substitutes.
Refrigerate the ramekins for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tartare has chilled and set. Remove them from the refrigerator and invert each ramekin onto a plate. Drizzle the top of each tartare with extra virgin olive oil and an optional dash of salt. Serve immediately.
Summer Fruit Tartare
Serves 6 to 8
1 pint blueberries, washed and stems removed
1 quart strawberries, washed and stems removed
1 Crenshaw or honeydew melon, seeds removed
2 mangoes, skins and seeds removed
1 papaya, skin and seeds removed
juice of 1 lime
coconut flakes, for garnish
powdered sugar, for garnish
Slice the blueberries in half and place in a large bowl. Dice the strawberries, melon, mangoes, and papaya and add to the blueberries. Pour the lime juice over the fruit and mix it together.
Spoon the fruit tartare into cocktail glasses, 4-ounce shot glasses, or small bowls and refrigerate until chilled. Before serving, top each tartare with a sprinkling of coconut flakes and powdered sugar.
Apple and Manchego Carpaccio
Serves 4
4 green apples, washed and thinly sliced
juice of 1 lemon, optional
6 ounces Manchego cheese, thinly sliced
¼ cup honey
fig preserves, optional
Place the apple slices in a circle on a large platter or on four individual plates. If not serving immediately, splash lemon juice onto the apples to stop them from browning. Otherwise, place a sliver of Manchego on top of each apple slice and drizzle honey over both. For additional flavor, dot the center of each apple-Manchego combo with the optional fig preserves.
Pineapple-Hazelnut Carpaccio
Serves 4
1/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup vegan hazelnut-chocolate spread such as Chocoreale Hazelnut
1 pineapple, skin removed
¼ cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
In a small, non-stick saucepan heat the soy milk until it simmers. A spoonful at a time, add the hazelnut-chocolate spread and whisk to combine. Remove the pan from the burner and set aside to cool slightly.
Lay the pineapple on its side and, using a sharp, long-bladed knife, cut it into very thin, circular slices. If you end up with thicker slices, consider removing the core in each ring. Otherwise, place the slices in a circle on a large platter or on four individual plates.
Pour the sauce over the pineapple. Sprinkle some hazelnuts on top and serve.