Starter
Beef carpaccio with truffle mayo
Five minutes' work, but the plate looks like a fine-dining starter.
The secret to carpaccio isn't cooking — no pan involved — it's the arranging. Laid out thin, with dots of truffle mayo, toasted pine nuts and shavings of Parmesan, ready-made beef suddenly becomes a dish people go ‘ooh’ at.
Method
- Toast the pine nuts dry in a pan until golden and leave to cool.
- Lay the carpaccio slices overlapping across a large, cold plate right to the edge — the neater, the more expensive it looks.
- Put the truffle mayo in a small bag, snip off a corner and pipe neat dots over the meat.
- Pile the rocket loosely in the middle for height and scatter over the Parmesan and pine nuts.
- Finish with a thin drizzle of olive oil, a few drops of lemon, salt and pepper. Serve straight away.
The bluff
Cold plate, dots, height
Three plating tricks finish it: use a cold plate so the meat stays put, pipe the mayo in neat dots (with a bag) instead of smearing, and build height with the rocket in the middle. Shave the Parmesan with a peeler for airy curls.
Plating — how to make it look expensive
- Lay the meat right to the rim — a ‘full’ plate looks generous and pro.
- Vary the size of the mayo dots for a natural, considered pattern.
- Stand the rocket in a small tuft in the middle for height.
- Final 10%: a sheen of olive oil and a single sprig for colour.
What you say at the table
“Oh, I just plated up a bit of carpaccio.”
“The truffle mayo? Little secret of mine.”
What to drink
A glass of Italian red (Chianti) or a dry prosecco.
Foto via Pexels