Pesto Crisps

Introduction
With just three ingredients, we thought our pesto spaghetti recipe was the simplest dish ever. Well, we're always up for a challenge, so we thought we’d develop a two-ingredient recipe featuring nothing other than pesto and Parmesan.

Recommended equipment
Digital kitchen scales
Spatula

Pro tip
For the ultimate crunch, we let the crisps cool and place them in a 100°C oven with the door open to allow them to dry out a little more. Check on them regularly, but this should not take more than around 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients for 12 pesto and parmesan crisps
Note: You might want to double or triple the quantities below because these crisps are generally demolished before they even make it onto the table.

Method
Coarsely grate the Parmesan. (We've done dozens of experiments, finely grating the cheese, blending it, chopping it with a knife, etc. but the results are best when you simply use the regular grating side of your box grater.)

Add the pesto and mix well until combined.

Separate the mixture into 12 x 25g equal-sized balls (around the size of a golf ball).

Place the cheesy balls of goodness on a sheet of grease-proof paper and press down on them with your fingers or a weight until the balls resemble a vaguely circular, flat crisp around half the size of a fried egg. Don't worry about being precise. These crisps are brilliantly unpredictable and will do their own thing when you put them in the oven, regardless of what you want them to do. We don't mind, though, as we rather like the imperfect, rustic look that results.

Bake in a pre-heated 180°C fan oven until the mixture is bubbling and the edges are just starting to turn brown, around 3-4 minutes.

Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a couple of minutes. Then, with a spatula, transfer them to a sheet of kitchen roll to soak up the excess grease.

Let them rest on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving (or follow our pro tip if you want a crispier crunch).