A Good Appetite
Melissa Clark swaps Parmesan crisps for croutons in this quick, hearty no-cook recipe.
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As a Caesar salad enthusiast, I’ve seen my share of crouton stand-ins. Some are quite good (crumbled pretzels, fried chickpeas, toasted pumpkin seeds), while others are mere wannabes. (Wasabi peas, ahem. Dried apple chips? Don’t get me started.) But not a single one holds a candle to that queen of crunch, the frico.
Recipe: White Bean Salad With Crispy Cheese
A traditional Italian nibble to serve with drinks, fricos are thin wafers native to Friuli, in the northeast, typically made by frying grated hard cheese until it turns golden, salty and audibly crunchy. Montasio and Asiago cheeses are the most traditional in Italy, but Parmesan and Cheddar are more commonly used in the United States. Fricos are available premade in the snack food aisle (often called cheese crisps or Parmesan crisps), a blessing for those on keto or gluten-free diets, or anyone who needs a savory, crunchy bite on the fly.
Fricos found their way into my Caesar salad by happy accident. I was making croutons the way I usually do, sprinkling a layer of grated Parmesan over garlic-rubbed, oiled bread cubes before baking. Some of the cheese always falls to the bottom of the baking sheet, turning into delectable shards in the oven. (Tip for both crouton and frico makers: Always line your baking sheet with parchment paper, so the shards detach from the pan.)
Normally I’d devour all the shards directly from the pan, but that day I absent-mindedly tossed them into my salad with the croutons. The frico bits immediately scored top billing (along with the anchovies, of course).
It was a small step to realize that whenever I was rushed I could simply crumble up store-bought Parmesan crisps into virtually any salad, Caesar or not.
In this hearty, no-cook recipe, the Parmesan crisps add their salty crunch to soft and earthy white beans dressed in a bracing red wine vinaigrette. Slivers of fennel and onion lend sweetness, while arugula and basil add pleasingly green and bitter notes. I also shave some fresh Parmesan on top, both to bolster the cheesiness and to lend a creamy, briny tang.
The beans can be prepared a few hours in advance, but don’t add the Parmesan crisps until right before serving because they quickly lose their crunch in the dressing.
Caesars may be eternal, but who wouldn’t be happy to hail a stunning white bean salad crowned with crunchy cheese?
Melissa Clark has been writing her column, A Good Appetite, for The Times’s Food section since 2007. She creates recipes for New York Times Cooking, makes videos and reports on food trends. She is the author of 45 cookbooks, and counting. More about Melissa Clark
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