Iberia · Volume 09, Gofio, the Guanche Grain Beneath a Castilian Table
Quesadilla Herreña
El Hierro, the smallest and least documented island here, and its clearest signature dish
Illustration
- Time
- 1 hour 10
- Researched
- 4 sources cited
El Hierro carries less documented food history than any other island in the archipelago. 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, plus 50 minutes baking.
Ingredients
- 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 salt
- as available 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.