Simple Spanish Food

Piel de Sapo: La Mancha's Famous Melon

When we're in Madrid, Esperanza,  my mother-in-law, serves us at some point a piel de sapo melon, usually for dessert, though I will sometimes eat a slice with jamón serrano for the cena.   

Piel de Sapo melons are a specialty of La Mancha, especially the town called Villaconejos, which supposedly produces the best melons of all. Nowadays you can find piel de sapo melons in supermarkets and fruit stands everywhere, even here in Central Florida.

Piel de Sapo may also be sold under the names "Christmas melons," "Santa Claus melons," "camouflage melons," among other things. If you find a light green, football-shaped melon with a hard rind and dark green spots, it's probably piel de sapo--and definitely worth trying.

Piel de sapo translates literally to "toad skin," but to me these green speckled melons look more like the skin of frogs than toads.  Whatever you call them, the flavor is outstanding: mild and fresh, like a honeydew, but much sweeter. 

Another good thing about piel de sapo melons is that they keep a long time, supposedly into winter (we always eat ours way before then), thanks to their hard rinds.

So if you're looking for a super-easy La Mancha-style dessert for summer (or autumn or even winter), all you have to do is cut open a piel de sapo melon.

 

 

Three Great Galician Cheeses

Three of my favorite cheeses--queso gallego, tetilla, and San Simón--all come from Galicia, the region in the Northwest of Spain where Ana is from.  In the picture above, the roundish cheeses to the left are queso gallego, the cheese in the middle is the tetilla, and the more conical and golden cheese to the right is San Simón. (And to the far left are some smoky Gallego style chorizos, which make an excellent accompaniment to these cheeses).

If you're throwing a tapas party or putting together a cheese course for a Spanish dinner, any one of these cheeses would make a pleasant change from the usual manchego. Don't get me wrong, I love manchego.  It's just there are so many other types of Spanish cheeses, most of which are fabulous and don't have the recognition they deserve.  The on-line Spanish food store La Tienda has a pretty good selection of Spanish  cheeses in its cheese section. 

Queso gallego, tetilla, and San Simón are all soft, creamy cheeses made of cow's milk. They are the sort of cheeses that even people who aren't usually crazy about cheese will love. At the same time they are unusual--and quite distinct from each other--and totally worthy of a serious cheese person's interest.

To tell you the truth, my favorite of the three is queso gallego, which is, so far as I know, unavailable in the U.S. This cheese is unbelievably creamy and slightly acidic.  

 Tetilla is the closest cheese you're likely to find to queso gallego outside of Spain. Tetilla is also a creamy, soft cheese, but not quite as rich as queso gallego.  It also does not have quite the twang of the acidity.  Many people--even most--consider tetilla to be Galicia's best cheese, and one of the best cheeses in Spain. 

San Simón is much like a tetilla in shape and even flavor, except it is lightly smoked, which gives the rind a deep gold color and the cheese a slightly firmer texture. 

I am usually wary of smoked cheeses because of the excessive (and I suspect artificial) smoke added to many cheeses sold in U.S. supermarkets, but the smoke taste of San Simón is natural, subtle and pleasant. 

When in Spain, we usually eat these and other cheeses as part of the cena--the late evening meal--with bread (see my recipes for easy, no-knead Spanish-style breads), fresh fruit, and paper-thin slices of jamón serrano, and other Spanish cured meats and sausages. 

Here is the U.S. we would have a similar menu for a late evening tapas party, with Spanish wines. If you don't have a good supplier of Spanish wines in your area, check out La Tienda's selection of Spanish reds, whites, and sherries.