100 Recipes - #46-47 Beef Carpaccio and Arugula Pesto

[lillibet]

Inspired by our most recent trip to Il Buco, I decided the time had come for me to figure out how to make beef carpaccio at home. I looked at several different recipes online and here's what I ended up doing:

#46 Beef Carpaccio Rub some beef tenderloin (about a quarter-pound per person) with your favorite spices--I used cumin and black pepper and that was lovely--and then wrap it tightly in plastic and freeze it for two hours. Then slice it as thinly as you can and lay out the slices on a sheet of wax paper, with lots of space around each slice. Put another sheet of wax paper over the beef and then work out all your aggressions on it with a meat hammer. Peel the beef off the paper and lay it out on a plate. Toss some arugula with capers, lemon olive oil, kosher salt and cracked black pepper and put a good-sized handful on top of the beef. Shave some parmigiana over it, share and enjoy!

#47 Arugula Pesto Arugula is one of Jason's favorite things in the world, so making this was imperative once I heard about it. I used this recipe, but quadrupled the garlic without it seeming too garlicky to any of us.

Thanks to bookly for all the assistance in shopping and prep and for being a willing test-subject!

Comments

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I've never noticed spices on the periphery of carpaccio slices I've had.

Just thinly slice it, and drizzle it with olive oil, put on capers, and grated cheese. You will usually find a mustard sauce on it most places. Some put on arugula, but I don't like the decorative foliage. And I sometimes have them add in garlic slivers. One place I go to puts the bruchetta tomato stuff around the rim of the plate, that an interesting take on it, too.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I think most places use just salt & pepper. We had one recently with cumin and really loved it, so I tried that and it really worked. I like arugula and Jason loves it, so we're always happy to find it. I'm not a fan of the mustard sauce, although it's apparently true to the original (Harry's Bar in Venice, from what net research tells me). I think it doesn't much matter what you decorate it with, as long as the meat is good :)