Simple Spanish Food

Torta del Casar Cheese

Here's a guest post from Julianne at Trujillo Villas in Extremadura about Torta del Casar,  a soft, rich, creamy cheese that Ana and I often enjoy when we're in Spain.

Julianne writes, "Torta del Casar is a cheese made from sheep’s milk in the Extremadura region. It’s named after Casar de Caceres because that’s where the cheese originated from. The thing that is special about this cheese is that it is cured using a wild thistle. That ingredient lends a light touch of bitterness you taste along with the rich and slightly salty flavors of this cheese. Another part of torta del Casar's flavour comes from the fact that it is aged at least sixty days.

"The consistency of this cheese is not like many others. The inside is creamy and the outside is hard. The best way to eat torta del Casar is to cut the top off and scoop out the middle to enjoy it spread  on a piece of bread, crackers, or pita chips. A cool thing about this cheese is that only 10% of production from only 8 family-run dairies is exported!"

See La Tienda's Torta del Casar page for more information.   You may also wish to check out Trujillo Villas, where Julianne works. Looks beautiful!

Simple Spanish Subs #2: bocadillo de queso manchego

This traditional Spanish sandwich is just as easy as the last I wrote about, bocadillo de jamón, and just as  good. 

All you need is a Spanish-style baguette or pan de barra.

And a chunk of good queso manchego.

Cut some thick slices of manchego, tuck it into the bread, and that's it.   You have a bocadillo de queso manchego. 

It's as simple as that.

You don't need to add mayo, or ham, or lettuce and tomato.  The manchego is flavorful enough, and rich enough, to stand on its own. The point of this sandwich is to enjoy as completely as possible this fantastic cheese.  

In Spain we do sometimes see sandwiches with manchego combined with other ingredients, such as this mini-bocadillo of manchego and smoked fish we had in a neighborhood bar.

Or this open-face sandwich of manchego and jamón serrano.

I admit, they're pretty good. Maybe if I lived in Spain and could eat manchego and jamón serrano and out-of-this-world smoked fish whenever I wanted  I would mix things up more often, just for a change of pace. 

But as things are, when I get a chance to enjoy manchego, I really want to taste manchego, so usually I go for the simplest--and most traditional--form of the sandwich, un bocadillo de queso manchego--hold everything but the manchego.

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.