It is basically a cheese pie with potato and onion and it’s a typical regional recipe from Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in north-east Italy, whose main city is Trieste.
Friulian Frico is best enjoyed as a hearty single dish or main course. In Friuli it is usually served along with Polenta.
There are two versions of Frico: a soft and a crunchy one. The first one is made with sliced potatoes and sliced cheese and looks more like a thick frittata, while the second one is very thin and crumbly and is prepared with grated potatoes and grated cheese.
Main ingredient is cheese, traditionally Montasio, a typical creamy, unpasteurised cow’s milk cheese of the Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Although Montasio is the typical cheese used for Frico, other cheeses as Asiago cheese or a mix of different ones might be used since this recipe was originally born as a way of recycling cheese rinds.
Serves 4, Preparation time 10 mins, Cooking time 30-35 mins
- 250 g of yellow potato
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 200 g mixed cheese – both fresh and aged, meltable
- 2 onions, white or yellow
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Method
Dice or grate cheese.
Peel and cut potatoes into very thin slices or grate them.
Melt the butter in a non-stick pan and gently stew the onion.
Add potatoes to the onions: cook over medium heat for about 25 mins, stirring regularly.
Add salt and pepper to taste before adding cheese cubes, stir until it melts completely and press it with a spatula to keep them firm.
Low the heat and complete the cooking until a crust has formed on the bottom.
Flip over Frico as if it were a frittata, keep cooking it until the same crust has been formed on the other side.
Serve it hot.