Easy Beef Carpaccio with Arugula Recipe (2024)

No-Cook
Italian
Beef
Arugula

Paper-thin slices of ultra-fresh raw beef garnished with arugula and drizzled with vinaigrette.

Deborah Mele

Deborah Mele is a self-taught cook whose passion for Italian cuisine began almost 40 years ago when she married into a large Italian family overflowing with talented cooks. After moving to Italy, Deborah created her blog Italian Food Forever to share her passion for Italian food.

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Updated June 02, 2023

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Why It Works

Carpaccio can be garnished with seasonal vegetables, capers, or nuts.
Freezing the tenderloin first makes it easier to cut thin slices (or ask the butcher to do it for you).
Pound the sliced meat with a mallet or rolling pin to make them paper-thin.

I first tasted beef carpaccio in 1986 atHarry's Barin Venice. It was my first trip to Italy, and we were told that anyone who went to Venice had to visit Harry's Bar for a Bellini and a plate of carpaccio. Before I moved to Italy in 1987, I ate my beef medium well done, so for me to try raw beef was a real adventure. The plate looked appetizing topped with a generous drizzle of special sauce, but I just wasn't sure I could eat an entire plate of raw beef. It turned out to be love at first bite—beef carpaccio has become one of my favorite foods since that very memorable experience at Harry's Bar so long ago.

Carpaccio is defined as raw meat or fish (commonly tuna, salmon, and swordfish), thinly sliced or pounded thin and served as an appetizer or lunch option. Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry's Bar in Venice, created the first beef carpaccio for Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo in 1950 when he found out she couldn't eat cooked meat. The name was inspired by the paintings ofVittore Carpaccio, a famous Venetian painter whose paintings were often in tones of red and white which resembled the carpaccio. This dish has now become famous worldwide.

Easy Beef Carpaccio with Arugula Recipe (2)

The original Harry's Bar carpaccio is still made by covering a plate with paper-thin slices of raw beef and then garnishing with a drizzle of a secret dressing. Though the carpaccio served at Harry's Bar is extremely simple, the dish is now created in a variety of ways outside of Venice. Some of my favorite ways to prepare carpaccio at home aretopped with arugula, thinly sliced raw artichokes or mushrooms, or a combination of thinly sliced fennel and ripe cherry tomatoes.I'll finish the carpaccio with shavings of parmesan cheese, and sometimes capers or even pine nuts.

I prefer to use beef tenderloin for my carpaccio, and when eating raw beef it's best to ensure it's very fresh.If you have any health concerns, you can sear the tenderloin well on all sides before slicing it.If you decide to sear it, I'd recommend freezing the tenderloin for two hours first to ensure the center remains rare. Since this beef isn't cooked, it shouldn't be prepared for pregnant women, babies, young children, the elderly, or anyone whose health is compromised.

In order to achieve paper-thin slices of beef, I find freezing it wrapped in plastic wrap for an hour works really well. Even after I slice it as thinly as possible with my sharpest knife, I still like to use a flat-ended meat mallet to pound it paper-thin after covering both sides of each slice in plastic wrap. If you want to make things even easier, buy your beef from a good butcher and ask him to slice it thinly for you.

Easy Beef Carpaccio with Arugula Recipe (3)

I prefer to prepare beef carpaccio as a casual lunch entrée at home, but you can also serve it as an appetizer. It's a fabulous appetizer to serve when entertaining guests—it looks and tastes great and it's easy to prepare. You can slice the carpaccio a couple of hours ahead, but wrap it well in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to serve it.

May 2013

Recipe Details

Easy Beef Carpaccio With Arugula

Prep20 mins

Active30 mins

Ingredients

1 pound beef tenderloin
One 5-ounce box fresh baby arugula, washed and dried (see notes)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed juice from about 2 lemons
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 egg yolk
10 small tomatoescut into quarters to garnish

Directions

Wrap beef tenderloin in plastic wrap, and chill in freezer for 1 hour. Using a very sharp knife, cut beef across the grain into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Place slices between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper and gently pound with the flat end of a meat mallet, or roll with a heavy rolling pin until paper-thin.
Arrange slices on 6 individual chilled plates. Add arugula to a bowl and toss with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange arugula in a pile in the center of each plate.
Place remaining 4 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, mustard, egg yolk, salt and pepper in a 2-cup measure. Use an immersion blender or hand blender to mix until thick. Drizzle mustard sauce around each plate avoiding arugula. Garnish plates with tomato quarters and serve immediately.

Notes

For this dish it is best to use baby or wild arugula, but if this is not available, you can use mixed baby salad greens. You can either drizzle your carpaccio dish with a lightly flavored mustard sauce as I have in my recipe, or choose to use a simple lemon vinaigrette. To create your vinaigrette, top your carpaccio with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
461	Calories
39g	Fat
8g	Carbs
22g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories	461
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 39g	50%
Saturated Fat 10g	52%
Cholesterol 126mg	42%
Sodium 158mg	7%
Total Carbohydrate 8g	3%
Dietary Fiber 2g	8%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 22g
Vitamin C 27mg	136%
Calcium 70mg	5%
Iron 3mg	19%
Potassium 722mg	15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)