Spherical Olives and Top Chef Fabio’s Beef Carpaccio Recipe!

Fully obsessed with Season 5 of Bravo’s Top Chef, tonight we became equally fully obsessed with Fabio’s “Spherical Olives”. What are they and what gives them their outside shell and liquid center? After a quick visit with Google, we found this video from the genius chemist and chef Ferran Adria from El Bulli restaurant in Spain, where he demonstrates to Mark Bittman his special science using a recipe of calcium + alginate to create the magical olives.

Chef Fabio Viviani recreated these mysterious gems in his Top Chef winning beef carpaccio recipe, and Lee Anne from the French Culinary Institute in NYC shows us his technique in this video.

We also found an interesting post here from the chefs at the Ideas in Food blog, where they discuss encapsulation, play with chemicals, and create yogurt orbs. Is this type of food preparation natural? Not really. Is it fun and incredibly creative? Absolutely!

Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio with Arugula, Roasted Pine Nuts, Aged Parmesan Cheese, Spherical Kalamata Olives and Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Chef Fabio Viviani

Prep Time: About 2 hours
Serves: 3-4

Directions:Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio:
1. Slice the meat.
2. Display and season the arugula, shaved cheese, toast the pine nuts.

Kalamata Olives:
1. Mix first three ingredients together, let rest for three hours.
2. Mix water and algimate together, let rest for 3 hours.
3. Scoop first mixture into second mixture.
4. Let rest 3 minutes.

Note: Xanthan gum is not strictly necessary, but it can be used as a thickener. You can also use a thicker puree and it will work as well. Without the gum you will have to keep the olive in the solution for longer, around 5-6 minutes.

1 lb. tenderloin.
4 oz. parmesan, aged 5 years
6 balsamic vinegar, aged 6 years
8 oz. arugula
8 oz. pine nuts
olive oil
salt and pepper
kalamata olives

Spherical Kalamata Olives:
400 grams olive puree
1.8 grams Calcic Acid
1.3 grams Xanthan Gum
1.5 liters water
7.5 grams Sodium Alginate or Algin