Herbed Parmesan Bowls

Background

When Mom and Dad came to visit this month, Dad arrived with a plan in mind.  He had heard of Parmesan crisps and Parmesan bowls, but never saw the bowls done incorporating other flavors.  How hard could it be?  Turns out, not terribly.  The trick in this recipe is in timing the cheese melting correctly; once that is down, you can make as many bowls as you want, or your wallet allows.  The fun in this recipe is that because you make a bowl for each diner, you can personalize the seasonings.  We did a plain bowl, a garlic bowl, a rosemary basil bowl, a Pasta Sprinkle (TM Penzey's) bowl and a Pasta Sprinkle & garlic bowl.

Ingredients
rounded 1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese
heavy 10" frying pan
vegetable oil
spices (such as basil, tarragon, dill, garlic, pepper, etc.)
cereal bowl (turned upside down on counter top)

Directions
Coat the bottom of the 10" frying pan with vegetable oil (just enough to coat, no excess) and place over medium heat.  Allow pan to become hot, then sprinkle Parmesan quickly and evenly around the bottom of the pan.  The cheese should begin to melt immediately.  Using a rubber spatula, push any cheese "stragglers" from the sides of the pan onto the bottom.  Allow cheese to melt and start to brown, ~3 minutes.  If using an herb or spice, sprinkle evenly around the cheese.  Remove from heat.

Finished Herbed Parmesan Bowls

Immediately, begin working the spatula under one edge of the cheese.  When it becomes apparent that the cheese will loosen from the bottom easily, turn the pan over *above your upside-down cereal bowl*.  Because the cheese may not release from the pan itself, you may need to encourage it with your spatula some more after turning it over.  With enough coaxing, the cheese will release from the pan and fall onto your bowl.  Seldom did we find it did so perfectly.  No matter, it is still quite hot.  If you find that it falls unevenly, or that a side or corner turns under, just reach in and fix it.  Warning: it IS still quite hot.  When you contact it to manipulate it, do so quickly!  You may also want to press it to the sides of the bowl to make sure it forms a tighter shape.

Allow the cheese bowl to cool upside down for at least 5 minutes, until it is hard and crispy.  Remove from cereal bowl and place on a wire rack or platter for later use.  Repeat.

Notes

Herbed Parmesan Bowl with Lemon Chicken Salad

• It was only necessary to oil the bottom of the pan for the first Parmesan bowl.  After that, the cheese released enough grease to do the trick for the next bowl.  Mmmm, grease.
• You may notice that some of your herbs stick to the bottom of the cereal bowl while the Parmesan bowl is cooling.  That is okay.  If you worry of cross-contamination, simply rinse your cereal bowl between Parmesan bowl construction.
• We chose to fill our bowls with salad, but you may also try fruit.  I would stay away from hot things because, well, melting.  But if you find some other winning filling, do let us all know!