Take a single quality ingredient, apply a bit of heat and attention, and transform it into something just as good, but different. Picture a very thin cookie or wafer made of 100% parmesan cheese, and you've got it. Nothing could be simpler. I first saw these in The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller.
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Grate permesan cheese and sprinkle in a thin layer onto a silpat mat or other nonstick baking surface (see below). Bake at 325 degrees until just golden, then remove from oven, shape if desired, and let cool.
That's it.
Experiment with different graters and thicknesses (coarse or fine), and play with shapes: circles, rectangles, strips. They come soft out of the oven, so you can roll them into cones or tubes if you want. Shape a small bowl and fill it with risotto to amaze your friends, or just crush them up and sprinkle over pasta, casserole, or salad. Or just eat them like (very expensive) snack crackers, which is what my wife does.
For best results, you probably want to use a silpat baking mat. Luckily they are easy to find nowadays, and while they aren't free, they last on long time if you take care of them. Otherwise you can try parchment sprayed with a nonstick coating, or a very good, very clean teflon baking pan (but no guarantees). The silpat is really the way to go, and you'll end up using it for a lot of other things as well.
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