Beef carpaccio with pink pepper, rocket and sun-dried tomatoes

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Manuela Zangara serves up a simple and refreshing beef carpaccio recipe, perfect for summer. The key to success if to get the slices of beef as thin as possible – if you're wary about the process, you can ask a butcher to do this for you.

First published in 2018

Carpaccio is one of my favourite appetisers. Traditionally, it is a dish of thinly sliced raw meat or fish served with a salad and a vinaigrette or a sauce. Italians often eat it during the warmer months of the year. Carpaccio was invented in the 1950s by Giuseppe Cipriani from Harry's Bar in Venice and it soon became very popular. It was named after Venetian painter Vittorio Carpaccio, known for the characteristic red and white tones of his work.

Making carpaccio at home is very easy, as long as you have the right meat. You can either find a butcher who knows how to cut carpaccio properly, or you can do it yourself. The trick is to half-freeze the meat and use a very sharp knife to slice it very thinly. You can then gently pound the sliced meat to get it as thin as possible. For best results, use beef fillet.

The vinaigrette in this recipe is very simple and refreshing, and the sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes balances out the slight bitterness of the rocket. The whole dish comes together beautifully and it is a joy for the taste buds.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Beef carpaccio with pink pepper, rocket and sun-dried tomatoes

  • 400g of beef fillet
  • 100ml of extra virgin olive oil
  • 70ml of lemon juice, (fresh)
  • 15 pink peppercorns
  • 120g of rocket, washed and dried
  • 4 tbsp of sun-dried tomatoes
  • sea salt

Method

1
Place the beef fillet in the freezer until it is half-frozen
2
After this time, remove from the freezer and cut into very thin slices using a very sharp knife. Place each slice between 2 pieces of greaseproof paper and gently beat with a rolling pin or mallet to thin out the slices even more. Store the in the fridge until ready to serve
3
Make a vinaigrette by mixing together the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, pink peppercorns and salt to taste
4
Arrange the thinly sliced carpaccio on a plate and drizzle half the vinaigrette over it. Refrigerate for 15 minutes
5
When ready to serve, dress the rocket with the remaining vinaigrette and top the carpaccio with it
6
Decorate with the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and serve immediately

Discover more about this region's cuisine:

Manuela is an Italian native who currently resides in Australia. She is the author of Manu’s Menu, a food blog about traditional Italian cuisine that she started in 2011. Her blog is one of the top food blogs in Australia.

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