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Frico con patate on a dark wooden board, the golden cheese and potato cake cut open with Montasio pulling, soft polenta and red wine behind.

Frico con Patate

Friuli’s golden cheese and potato cake: Montasio melted over softened potatoes and onion until the underside turns to a lacy crisp.

1 hr 5 min · Serves 4

  • Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Jump to the recipeWhat to serve with it

The detail that makes this frico is the two Montasios: a young one in cubes for melt and stretch, an aged one grated for flavour and crust. After that, the hardest part is step 5: stop stirring, press the cake flat and leave it alone until the underside turns lacy and releases. Crush the potatoes roughly, too; a little texture keeps it from turning into cheesy mash.

Total
1 hr 5 min
Prep
20 min
Cook
45 min
Serves
4

One step at a time, with what each step needs.

Scan for the recipe

Frico con Patate

Total 1 hr 5 min · Prep 20 min · Cook 45 min · Serves 4

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a 24 cm nonstick pan and soften the onion over low heat until pale gold, about 8 minutes.Melt the butter in a 9½ in nonstick pan and soften the onion over low heat until pale gold, about 8 minutes.

  2. Add the potatoes and a pinch of salt, cover, and cook gently, turning now and then, until they crush easily against the side, about 20 minutes.

    A golden frico resting on a broad plate beside the pan after turning.
    Turn the frico onto a broad plate, then slide it back into the pan to cook the other side.

  3. Crush the potatoes roughly in the pan with the spoon; you want rubble, not puree.

  4. Add both Montasios and stir until fully melted into the potatoes, then stop stirring entirely and press the cake flat.

  5. Cook undisturbed over medium-low heat until the underside smells toasty and releases in one piece, 8 to 10 minutes. Flip with a plate and crisp the second side.

  6. Slide onto a board, rest 3 minutes, and cut in wedges. Black pepper over, polenta alongside if you are hungry like a carnico.

Equipment

  • Non-Stick Frying Pan24 cm keeps the cake thick, and nonstick makes the flip painless.
  • Box GraterFor the aged Montasio (and the potatoes, if you grate rather than slice).2 options

    • Our pick

      OXO Good Grips Box Grater

      For grating the cheese with the texture called for in the recipe.

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    • Cuisipro Surface Glide 4-Sided Box Grater

      Sharp, smooth-running faces that make short work of hard cheese.

      Shop
  • Spatula · OptionalLoosen the edges before you flip it onto a plate.

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Estimated per serving

Calories
609 kcal
Protein
31 g
Carbohydrates
26.8 g
Fat
42.3 g

One quarter of the recipe. Calculated with equal weights of fresh and aged Montasio and all listed butter. Excludes optional polenta; values vary with fat left in the pan.

Nutrition sources: USDA Agricultural Research Service · Consorzio Montasio · CREA Centro di ricerca Alimenti e Nutrizione

Nonna's tips

  1. Two ages of Montasio

    All young and the frico is bland and rubbery; all aged and it turns greasy. Half and half gets both the melt and the flavour.

  2. Let the crust happen

    The hardest step is doing nothing. Move the pan, not the cake, and trust the sizzle to tell you when the crust has set.

  3. Frico friabile, the lacy all-cheese wafer, is the same cheese melted alone into a crisp; make a few as a cook’s treat while the cake rests.

What to serve with Frico con Patate

A dinner from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, built around this dish. Change any course and the shopping list follows.

  1. Antipasto

    Toc in braide with cheese cream

    Soft Friulian polenta with a warm three-cheese cream and morchia, toasted cornmeal in golden butter.

    50 min · make ahead

  2. First course

    Cjarsons

    Carnia’s sweet-savory mountain ravioli: a potato dough filled with ricotta, herbs, raisins, and cocoa, sauced with brown butter and smoked ricotta.

    2 hr 20 min · make ahead

  3. Main course

    Frico con Patate

    This recipe

    1 hr 5 min

  4. Side

    Patate in tecia, Gorizia-style

    Boiled potatoes browned in a skillet with onion and pancetta, with soft centres and irregular golden edges.

    1 hr 30 min · make ahead

  5. Dessert

    Presnitz

    Thin puff pastry curls around a compact filling of nuts, raisins, candied orange and dark chocolate.

    3 hr 20 min · make ahead

  6. What to pour

    A Friulano, the region's signature white: its body and almond finish stand up to the salt of the Montasio.

    Friulano
Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Frico is a Friulian dish with recipes that vary from family to family. The soft version with potato and onion is traditionally served with polenta. Frico features at festivals across Friuli Venezia Giulia, and a wedge with polenta makes a full meal.

The Friuli-Venezia Giulia guide

Shopping list

People at the table
4
On the table

To buy

Check the pantry

Cook your way around Italy

Twenty regions, one dish from each. Cook one and its region goes on your map.

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Made Frico con Patate? Stamp Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Risi e bisi in a deep stoneware bowl, loose spring rice thick with peas and parsley, a spoon resting in the wave and lagoon water past the window.Next stop · VenetoRisi e Bisi1 hr 30 min

When you go to Friuli-Venezia Giulia

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One dish from every region

  1. Aosta ValleyFonduta Valdostana
  2. PiedmontAgnolotti del Plin Burro e Salvia
  3. LiguriaTrofie al Pesto Genovese
  4. LombardyRisotto alla Milanese
  5. Trentino-Alto AdigeCanederli in Brodo
  6. VenetoRisi e Bisi
  7. Friuli-Venezia GiuliaFrico con Patate
  8. Emilia-RomagnaTagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese
  9. TuscanyRibollita
  10. UmbriaStrangozzi al Tartufo Nero
  11. MarcheVincisgrassi
  12. LazioSpaghetti alla Carbonara
  13. AbruzzoArrosticini
  14. MoliseCavatelli al Ragù di Maiale
  15. CampaniaSpaghetti alle Vongole
  16. PugliaOrecchiette alle Cime di Rapa
  17. BasilicataStrascinati con Peperoni Cruschi
  18. CalabriaFileja alla ’Nduja
  19. SicilyPasta alla Norma
  20. SardiniaOgliastra-style culurgiones with tomato sauce

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Sources and citations (1)
  1. PromoTurismoFVG — Frico Carnico recipe

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