Easy and Delicious Lettuce Salad Recipe with Cheese from Albarracín Spain

We share this easy and quick, but tasty recipe by chef Luis Estopiñán, in El Milagro Restaurant (Teruel, Spain).

To prepare this delicious salad you will need:

Ingredients

• 3.5 ounces lettuce
• 16 pieces of salting anchovies
• 1.7 ounces hard cheese from Albarracin
• 1.4 ounces cream cheese from Albarracin
• 0.7 ounces toasted almonds
• 0.7 ounces fresh raspberry
• 1.4 ounces Olive oil
• 0.5 ounces balsamic vinegar reduction
• Salt and pepper

You can find all Cheeses from Albarracin we have used in the recipe and the rest of our products in our shop online: http://quesodealbarracin.es/productos.html

Cream cheese from Albarracin      Hard cheese from Albarracin

Directions

1. Paint a circle in the centre of the plate where the salad will be served with the balsamic vinegar reduction and place the cream cheese from Albarracin inside the circle.
2. Now, place a line of lettuce over the cream cheese from Albarracin.
3. Then, place the anchovies over the lettuce and add some slices of hard cheese form Albarracin.
4. Finally, add the toasted almonds and the raspberry that has been previously hydrated whit olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!!

Source: www.heraldo.es

Artisanal sausage roll with cheese and vegetables

Source: Mr Michael Phams en Flickr

Ingredients:

• Shortbread pastry
• Artisanal sausage
• Grated cheese Sierra de Albarracín (choose one)
• 1 onion
• 1 courgette
• Cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper 

Preparación:

1. Peel, chop and fry the onion and the courgette. Cook on a low heat until they get both soft.
2. Strain off the surplus liquid (broth) and keep it apart.
3. Fry the sausages on a high heat so you Brown them a little one the outside while keeping them not so cooked on the inside part.
4. Knead the shortbread pastry with an oval shape.
5. Spread over the shortbread pastry the cheese, vegetables and the cayenne pepper.
6. Add the sausages and season it with the salt and pepper.
7. Fold the shortbread pastry as so making a roll.
8. Put everything in the oven, preheated to maximum temperature during 15 minutes.

Once it´s cooked, you can use the broth previously kept to spread it on top of the roll together with some natural tomato salsa.

Now you just have to enjoy the meal.

Don´t forget that you´ll always have us on our website and also the online store, to provide you some of the most awarded cheeses in Spain.

1st International Congress of Truficulture in Teruel

Along this week we´ve had the honor of hosting the First International Congress of Truficulture.

Source: coiaanpv

Teruel has been the city chosen to gather the most important truffle experts in the world (France, Italy, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Israel). There, they´ve had 4 days to discuss and learn old and new techniques of cultivation and crop of the considered black diamond of gastronomy.

The two main objectives have been:

1. Share knowledge among researchers, managers and producers about the new scientific discoveries in the field of truffles. They also wanted to promote a sustainable production of truffles in many different territories.
2. Transfer worries and initiatives of the scientists with the truffle professionals, specially the inhabitants of Teruel, where 20% of the global production happens.

If you want to know what they´ve been doing, here´s a link to the program.

Because it was such a great event taking place so close from us, we couldn´t resist and decided we had to be there. Here is a picture of our stand, FULL OF CHEESE; a cheese lover´s dream come true.

In Quesería Sierra de Albarracín, we didn´t go mad and decided we are going to change our business. We still love cheese too much, but we are proud to share with you this event that has taken place so close from us, in our home.

Apart from that, we´d like to remind you one of our gastronomy suggestions in this blog, the cheese cubes with truffles and olive oil. Everybody knows that the Mediterranean Diet is healthy and good for you, but we don´t think anybody knows how delicious it can really be until this easy dish is tried.

Our cheese advise depends on each person´s taste; We have our soft Blue Label cheese for delicated palates. If you rather stronger flavours we recommend Golden Label or Silver Label, both hard cheeses full of different nuances.

Please, remember you will always be welcome in our home, Albarracín and, if it´s too far from you here you have our web and online store.

See you soon and enjoy your meal! ;)

The Origin of Cheese

Not long ago this information was the “trending topic” of the world of cheese; there is finally a certain evidence of the origins of cheese and an accurate date of such moment instead of the, until now, lapses taken which could include centuries or even millenniums.

We don´t know if this was the real origin of cheese, but it´s at least the earliest solid evidence of its existence. It was around 7500 years ago in a region that nowadays is Poland.

“Though there is no definitive test for cheese, we found large amounts of fatty milk residue on the pottery shards compared to cooking or storage pots from the same sites” said Richard Evershed at the University of Bristol.

That seems to be enough to prove that some of the sieves found in Poland were used to separate fatty curds from the liquid whey, all of this in a crude cheese-making process.

“It’s a very compelling forensic argument that this was connected to cheese” Evershed said. He also said that the discovery of cheese-making was a  major development for Neolithic people and gave an extra survival advantage since they could get more essential calories, minerals and proteins thanks to this way of milk preservation which was also benefitial to have reserves when food was scantly, specially in winter time.

Cheese also helped to make Neolithic diet a little more diverse. “Food was incredibly dull and monotonous” said Paul Kindstedt, a professor of nutrition and food sciences at the University of Vermont who didn´t take part in the study.

These “Neolithic cheeses” were sure non-perishable and quite pungent. “They wouldn´t be the first choice for many people now, but anyway I´d still love trying them” confirmed Kindstedt.

What´s sure is that the evolution of cheese has been constant since it was first made. Right now there are so many kinds of cheese that trying each one would be almost impossible to imagine.

Here in Sierra de Albarracin cheese factory, we use only fresh sheep's milk obtained exclusively from the livestock owned by the dairy itself, following the strictest standards in terms of nutrition and hygiene. The entire process perfectly balances traditional craft methods with the very latest technological developments.

We are waiting for you in our factory but also in our web, where you´ll be always welcome!

Post extracted from the online National Post

Christmas Cheese Balls

This Christmas time we offer you a recipe to prepare a cold-snack dish with cheese that everyone will love.

The cheese ball is traditional for this time of the year and it´s also very easy to make.

Source: Chris Buecheler in Flickr

INGREDIENTS

• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened.
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp cheese, Golden Label (Gold Medall of World Cheese Awards 2010)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion.
• 1 tablespoon diced Green peppers.
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce.
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
• Chopped toasted pecans (as much as you want).
• Chopped toasted almonds (ídem).
• Finely chopped dehydrated pineapple or apricot.
• Assorted crackers.

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients but the pecans, almonds and fruits. Shape into three balls. If you see them too little you can just shape them into two or add more quantity of all the ingredients.

Once everything is well mixed, roll each ball in the pecans, almonds or fruits. Make sure the cheese ball is well covered and let it chill.

Whenever you want to serve the balls, we suggest you to remove them from the refrigerator 15 minutes before.

Serve with crackers and enjoy!

On Christmas time we don´t forget about you and would like you to don´t forget about us. Let´s share the same table and have us with you. It´s easy through our online store or web.

MERRY CHEESEMAS!

WORLD CHEESE AWARDS 2012

Source: BBC Good Foof Show

For the first time in history a cheese from Aragon, Spain has been selected as one of the TOP 16 Best Cheeses in the World. That happened in the annual and international contest celebrated in Birmingham (UK) the last November 28th.

More tan 3000 cheeses from 33 different countries have come to this last edition of 2012.

Joaquin Alpuente and Alberto Asensio pose with the winner cheeses.

One more year, we come back home with more prizes and recognitions to our job. It makes us really happy to know that our daily effort is reflected on the quality of what we produce, which is appreciated by the best cheese experts in the world.

This way we want to let all the people know that any time they tasted or bought one of our cheeses, they were bringing the best quality to their homes. This fact fulfil us with joy and we can´t do another thing other than celebrating and sharing our happiness with you.

The kinds of cheese awarded this year were:

• One SuperGold medal for the soft Blue Label Cheese. It was in the TOP 16 previously mentioned.

Under the category Ewes Milk 51

• One Gold medal for our delicious Wine Cheese.

We present here the sign of the Super Golds Top 16 that´s on the website of the WORLD CHEESE AWARDS.

Cheeses Sierra de Albarracín keeps on celebrating awards, but what´s most important, we celebrate a constant increasing of the sales since 2 years ago, when we won the first  gold medal in the WCA 2010.

Twelve hardworking people make this dream possible in spite of the Spanish crisis and we grow together with our clients needs.

Our sales forecast for 2013 tells us that we will reach our break even point. That is a production of 70.000 Kilos (155.000 lb) from which a 20% goes to foreign markets: United Kingdom, Japan, Holland, etc.

Thank you very much for being there and specially for sharing our happiness.

We are waiting for you in Albarracín and also in our website.

OPENING OF THE SPANISH DELICACIES BAR “TOZINO” IN LONDON

The last October 26th was the opening of the bar Tozino at the Maltby Street Market. What was at first a simple stall ofering jamon (cured ham) from Teruel (Spain) freshly cut, our cheese from Albarracín, etc.. has now become a specialized Spanish bodega. 

There you won´t only just be able to taste their delicacies, such as jamon, cheese, truffle, cold meat, etc.. but also to buy them!!

Tozino has been growing along the years, thanks to Chuse and Zac, in the gastronomic panorama of London. They cut jamon for special events like, for example, the Tapas Fantásticas, or the World´s50 best restaurants or even for the Spanish athletes during the Olympic Games this last summer. They do it also for restaurants: Boqueria, in Brixton and Zorita´s Kitchen).

They now bring to the English public, special delicacies from Spain (cheese, cold meat, wine, saffron, truffles and tinned food).

Don´t miss the chance to visit the only one BODEGA at the Maltby Street Market (Bermondsey). It´s open every Saturday from 9am to 4pm.

Here are some more pictures of the great opening.

We remind you that, either in Tozino Bar or via online, you can buy our products and enjoy all the variety that we can offer: wine cheese, rosemary cheese and cheese in oil are some of our gourmet delicacies.

Enjoy!