Almogrote Gomero

In my wanderings around the big world on the internet  I am still coming across blogs about life in Spain,  obviously those I am most interested in are the ones written about life and food and living in areas around here,  there are lots from all over Spain and the Spanish Isles here.   One or two caught my eye and I go back to read how they are doing,  one is written by a  family from Sydney  who have gone to live in Granada city for a year,  then I found - no idea where from - a blog about living in rural Andalucia,  which just about sums us up.

Some of these blogs are about life,  some include food stuff,  and those are the ones I go back to - someone elses ideas on what to do with what you grow,  how to preserve it,  cook it,  quick meals,  tapas.....  the list is endless.

Most of the ideas - as they are using what is most commonly grown and in season - are good ideas.  We have a tapas recipe book but the ingredients are not 'store cupboard' - at least,  not my store cupboard anyway.  And the point of tapas for me is something quick and available.

So when I read about Almogrote gomero  I thought yes,  got that, got that.....and so quick to make.  And so tasty.

From here

 Almogrote Gomero is  a traditional dish from La Gomera, an island of the Canaries. The name comes from Arabic “al mojrot”- cheese salsa. It is made of an aged goat cheese, or a mixture of the goat and sheep milk cheese. The cheese is made mainly from unpasteurized milk. There are many recipes for the Almogrote Gomero, but the main difference is only in a proportion of the ingredients.

So to basics,  you need 

100grams hard cheese,  in Spain that would typically be Manchega,  but we used cheddar.

1 tomato, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

chilli powder or a fresh one, chopped  - we used dried ground chillis, then tasted, then added more. 

pinch of salt...

and finally add the olive oil

Cube the cheese, put with the other ingredients into a food processor and whizz,  gradually adding the oil.  The more you whizz, the smoother it becomes,  the more oil you add the softer it is.  We whizzed till there were still some chunks,  I think with more oil and very smooth it would be a lovely dip with sticks of carrot,  celery and cucumber.  We ate most of it for lunch spread onto freshly made rolls.  Then finished it off for evening tapas.

The recipe was credited to Omar Allibhoy who has written a book called 'Tapas Revolution' which can be found on Amazon here

Happy eating and reading :)