Parmesan Cups

The weather over here has been very warm lately and the locally grown salads are just showing up at the markets. Which made me think about Parmesan cups these are made very easily by melting grated Parmesan, (or Grano Padano and I would guess just about any hard cheese) and forming the it into the shape you want. It gives plenty of scope for the imagination and creativity.

For the simple cup, take about a table spoon of the grated cheese and pour in a heap onto a lightly oiled non-stick frying pan at a medium heat - for the first few times to make life easier, add 10% fine breadcrumbs. Using the spoon spread the cheese into a circle about five to inches (or 12 – 15cm). As it starts to bubble give the pan a shake so it does not stick and tidy up the edges pushing back into the disk any that has drifted off. Make sure the entire disk has melted and bubbled a little bit before taking it out with a spatula and dropping over an upturned shot glass. Smooth down a bit so it fits the glass and allow to cool for at least fifteen minutes. Turn it up and fill with whatever takes your fancy, salad, olives, humus.

You can do many other shapes, latticed for salad or cone for ricotta or tomato with anchovy.

Chef Jonathan Arthur
www.italywithrelish.it