Iberia · Volume 09, Gofio, the Guanche Grain Beneath a Castilian Table
Quesadilla Herreña
El Hierro, the smallest and least documented island in this chapter, and its clearest signature dish
Illustration
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Researched
- 4 sources cited
El Hierro carries less documented food history than any other island in this chapter, and this chapter says so plainly rather than padding the gap. What is genuinely and consistently documented is this one dish: a sweet pastry built from the island's own fresh, unsalted cheese, distinct enough in shape, a flower or star, that the mould itself is part of the dish's identity.
As tradition built it
Makes about 8. About 20 minutes active, 50 minutes baking.
Ingredients
The method as the tradition gives it, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them, lead dishes first.
- 1 kg fresh, unsalted herreño-style goat's cheese
- 200 g plain flour
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 egg whites
- 400 g sugar
- 1 lemon grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp matalahúva (aniseed)
- a pinch pinch of salt
- shortcrust pastry, for the base
Method
- Pass the cheese through a food mill or ricer until smooth.
- Work in the sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon, aniseed and a pinch of salt.
- Beat in the egg yolks, then whisk the egg whites separately to soft peaks and fold them through.
- Add the flour last, folding in gently to a workable, spoonable paste.
- Line individual fluted, star-shaped moulds with a thin layer of shortcrust pastry, and fill with the cheese mixture.
- Bake about 50 minutes at 180°C, until set and lightly golden on top.
- Cool before turning out, and serve at room temperature.
What a modern chef changes
The cheese given a finer, more consistent texture than a food mill alone reliably gives
Kit note
Method
- Strain the freshly-milled cheese through a chinois rather than relying on the food mill alone, removing any remaining lumps for a genuinely smooth, custard-like filling.
- Weigh the egg whites' fold-through carefully, in two additions rather than one, protecting more of the air that gives the finished pastry its characteristic light interior.
- Bake by internal temperature with a probe, aiming for a just-set centre around 82 to 85°C, rather than by the clock alone, since oven-to-oven variation makes the stated fifty minutes only an approximate guide.