These little crisps are a great finishing touch to a pasta or risotto dish. (my Pork Cheek Agnolotti as an example). Savory tuiles are a bit harder to keep crispy than sweet ones (sugar gives the crisp) while still adding lots of flavor, but the addition of cornstarch and just a pinch of sugar in this recipe works.
Makes about 20-25 small crisps
INGREDIENTS
- egg whites: from 1 egg
- Parmigiano Reggiano cheese: 15 g/0.6 oz, grated, then chopped even finer with a knife (to fit the batter in very narrow pattern of the the mold, we want the cheese as fine as possible.)
- salt: 0.25 tsp/big pinch
- sugar: 0.25 tsp/big pinch
- rosemary oil: 4 tsp (see my recipe here) (alternatively, use the same amount of olive oil or melted butter)
- flour: 2 tsp
- cornstarch: 2 tsp
- green food coloring (optional): a few drops. (the herb oil gives some green tint to the tuiles, but you might want to add additional color saturation.) Some black food coloring will also help darken the very bright green coloring)
Equipment
- A blender to make the herb oil mixture
- (optional) Silicon leaf mold for the rosemary crisps. I use the one from Silikomart in Italy called “Forestra.” Alternatively, just spread the batter in small, thin circles using a spatula onto a silicon baking mat or baking paper on a metal sheet pan.
STEPS
- Heat the oven to 150 C/300 F
- Mix the batter ingredients. Whisk the egg white until frothy, then mix in the parmesan, sugar, salt and herb oil. Finally add the flour and gently combine, but do not over mix. (optional: add food coloring)
- Bake #1: Fill the mold (or form into thin circles on parchment paper with a spatula) and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from the mold onto a flat surface or large plate and allow to cool. To make curved tuiles, you can drape them over a rolling pin while they are still soft.
- Bake #2: Dry the crisps. Reduce the oven to 60 C/140 F and bake the crisps for 30-45 minutes to dry them out. Allow to cool completely again and store in a cool dry airtight container. You can make these a day ahead, if they soften a bit–dry them out again in a low temperature oven.