Simple Spanish Food

Simple Spanish Subs #3: bocadillo de lomo curado

Bocadillo de lomo curado is another super simple--and delicious--Spanish sandwich. As with bocadillo de queso manchego and bocadillo de jamón, it has only two ingredients:  good bread, usually a Spanish-style baguette or pan de barra, and thinly sliced, dry-cured pork loin, lomo curado.

Put them together and you have a fantastic sandwich. The lomo curado is so flavorful that nothing else is necessary. In fact it would be a shame to detract from the lomo with unnecessary additions. The point of this sandwich is to showcase the taste of lomo curado. There's really nothing quite like it. 

While shopping for lomo curado you will see lomo curado ibérico, made from the loin of a special Spanish  heirloom hog, and less expensive lomo curado serrano, the more ordinary sort.  My father-in-law Andrés always thought that regular serrano pork was just fine for sandwiches and indeed most tapas, while  pricey ibérico pork is best reserved for special occasions.  I agree. Both types are outstanding, just different.

La Tienda should have lomo curado serrano  for 2012 any day now.  So keep an eye on their lomo and chorizo page.

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.

Simple Spanish Subs #1: bocadillo de jamón

Today I begin a series of posts on easy Spanish-style sandwiches.

As I mentioned in my post on bocadillo de tortilla de patata, Spaniards tend to keep their sandwiches simple.   The Spanish-style ham sandwich, or bocadillo de jamón, is a good example. All you need to make one is a Spanish baguette or barra de pan  and some jamón serrano.   That's it. Nothing could be easier. 

A word about Spanish hams. When shopping you will probably  see the special (and expensive) jamón ibérico--ham made from an heirloom Spanish pig called pata negra, "black hoof." You will also come across the even more expensive jamón ibérico de bellota--ham from a pata negra raised free-range on wild acorns. The latter is the ham that frequently makes international news because of its high prices. These luxury hams are best reserved for special occasions, served on their own, as an elegant tapa or appetizer. Ordinary jamón serrano is quite good and perfect for sandwiches or indeed most tapas.  I don't consider jamón serrano inferior to these other, far more expensive hams (nor did Andrés, my father-in-law). They are just different styles of cured ham.  Each has its own merits.

Here's how to make that sandwich.

Start with a Spanish baguette or barra de pan.

Cut off a piece. The size depends on how big you want your sandwich to be. Slice it longways, as you would for a sub.

Now slice some jamón serrano. Or use the pre-sliced kind.

Place a thin slice or two on the bread. Don't pile it on.  Jamón serrano is full-flavored. A slice or two is enough.

Now close it.

And that's it.

Really. 

A Spanish ham sandiwich doesn't need cheese or mayo or anything else, because it's perfect as it is. To add any of that would be to detract from the ham.

Yes, Spanish ham is that good.

Taking a trip? Wrap your bocadillo  in aluminum foil, not plastic wrap. This is not only the Spanish way, it's the best way because the foil lets the bread breathe and retain its texture.

 

 

 

Spanish Potato Omelete Subs--Bocadillos de Tortilla de Patata o Tortilla Española

 

Bocadillos are simple sandwiches made with Spanish baguette, barra de pan.   A bocadillo may be filled with slices of Spanish ham (jamón serrano) or Manchego cheese or fried calamares or many other things. Unlike American subs or hoagies, which often have literally dozens of ingredients piled on, the fillings of a bocadillo are simple, rarely combined, and then only with care.   You wouldn't want to muddle the flavor of jamón serrano with a lot of unnecessary toppings.  The simple combination of good bread and ham is perfect as it is.  Bocadillos are minimalist for good reason.

One of my all-time favorite bocadillos is filled with wedges of Spanish potato omelet, tortilla de patata, a.k.a. torilla española.

To make an authentic bocadillo de tortilla de patata, first prepare a Spanish baguette or barra de pan.

Next follow my recipe for tortilla de patata.

Slice a piece of the baguette longways and fill it with wedges of tortilla, and you will have a delicious bocadillo for lunch (almuerzo) or a trip.