Fried Parmigiano Bowls

Baking or frying cheese usually brings out a much stronger flavor than the raw cheese has. That’s why the Asiago cheese crisps made a plain roast beef sandwich something special. With a little care, frying also lets you play Willie Wonka, and make edible salad bowls out of parmigiano reggiano.

Ingredients

parmigiano reggiano (or any hard cheese)

Directions

This one is really simple to describe — there are only three steps — but takes a bit of practice to get it just right.

Grate the cheese.

Place a ramekin or small bowl upside-down on a plate.

Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese into a medium-hot non-stick pan with a sloping side.

Cook until most of the cheese starts bubbling. It won’t all start at once.

Use the tip of a spatula to pull the edges in a little bit so the edge looks more like an edge, instead of looking like lace.

The lace look is actually very pretty, but really hard to do on purpose.

When the whole surface is bubbling, and just starting to turn brown around the edge, lift the pan up and carefully slip a spatula under one edge.

Slide the cheese in one piece out onto the upside-down bowl or ramekin you set out before you started. Let the edges fold down around the ramekin.

Let the cheese cool until it holds its shape when you lift it up.

Here you can see the difference between one where I made a smooth edge …

… and one where I left the lace edge.

Serve on a plate or a shallow salad bowl.

And that’s it.

You can make this solid enough to hold liquid by using enough cheese. But if you’re using a good cheese (You are using good cheese, aren’t you?) it’s best in moderation. Which means nobody is going to want that much crispy cheese with their salad. If you get it just right, the bowl will fall apart as they’re eating.