Black Pepper Tuiles

Now and again I find an absolutely fabulous recipe from a magazine, and this is definitely one.  It was a recipe from a talented female chef a few years ago, but I cannot find her name, except to thank Stella Magazine for publishing it!  The quantities are fiddly and exact, but the tuiles very unusual and delicious.  They make a fantastic accompaniment to ice cream and panna cotta, and half of the mixture can be used on another occasion.  The recipe suggests that they are stored in layers in baking parchment, but I didn't have enough left to store!

Black Pepper Tuiles

Black Pepper Tuiles

2 ¼ oz/60g butter

1floz/25g double cream

2 ¾ oz/75g caster sugar

1floz/25g liquid glucose

2 ¾ oz/75g polenta (preferably the instant type)

cracked black pepper

Preheat the oven to 170 deg C.    Makes approx 24 or so

Put all the ingredients except for the polenta and pepper into a pan and stir over a low heat until dissolved.  Then bring to the boil briefly, before removing from the heat and whisking in the polenta.  This needs to be done slowly and steadily, so the polenta doesn’t go into lumps.    The mixture now needs to be allowed to cool and get firm, and the quickest way to do this is to put it into a wide dish.

Take half of the mixture and roll it out between two sheets of baking parchment until it is quite thin.  Carefully peel the top layer of parchment off, then put the mixture, on its parchment, onto a large baking sheet (it does need to be large!).   Grind the black pepper all over the tuile in an even layer.

Bake until golden brown – about 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a minute.   Take a large knife, and cut the tuile into quarters, then each quarter into thin triangles, pressing completely through the tuile.  The tuile will crisp up quite quickly, so the last few may well crack.  (Like brandy snaps, if it has got too cool, put it back into the oven for a minute until it softens again.) 

You can either use the remaining mixture and repeat the process immediately, or put the mixture into the fridge in a covered box and use it later.  I’ve found it keeps quite well in the fridge, just needing to be softened enough to roll out before use.