skinny girls & mayonnaise

Mini-Caesar salad in a frico cone

It’s one of life’s best things. That little bit of melted cheese that escapes from the edge of the grilled cheese sandwich or quesadilla, and sizzles into the pan, becoming crisp and lacy.

The Italians, in their infinite culinary wisdom, bypass the sandwich or tortilla altogether and simply throw some cheese in a pan. It’s called frico. And yeah, it’s good.

What does one do with frico? Eat it, my friends, eat it. I like to throw a crisp disk of it on top of a Caesar’s salad for dramatic effect. If you’re having a dinner party with an Italian theme, make a bunch of it and serve it on a plate as an appetizer with a dry white wine. If you get to it while it’s hot, you can mold it into shapes — i.e. try wrapping it around a baked fig, or make it into a small cone and place some creamy marscapone cheese and smoked salmon inside as an amuse bouche. (Those fun little things you didn’t order that they serve you in fancy restaurants.)