Tetilla: a buxom cheese

That caught your attention, didn’t it? 

Traveling back to Spain and its culinary wonders, today I’m going to talk about tetilla cheese. It’s called that because it’s shaped like a breast. It’s a Galician specialty, made from cow’s milk and is smooth and creamy. I don’t know how easy it is to find outside Spain, but it’s worth hunting down when you are there. It’s readily available in any supermarket, unwrapped and sitting on refrigerated shelves. Tetilla can also be known as perilla (because it could also be a ‘pear’ shape).

Here is a website on cheeses in Spain with more detailed descriptions of tetilla: Cheese from Spain

In Santiago de Compostela, tetilla is proudly displayed in food shop and restaurant windows in the old part of the city. Each window tries to lure you in with their decadent displays of octopus, cakes (tarta de Santiago) or tanks of live lobster. Below are some photos.

Octopus, clams, razor clams, scallops, tetilla, pimientos del Padrón...

Lobsters!  Bogavantes and langostas, to be specific.

A Carew Piggie Favorite: Fishy pasta

We piglets have some clear favorites when it comes to quick, easy, and absolutely delicious dinners. This pasta shouldn't take you more than a half hour to make from start to finish. We tend to have a freezer chock full of frozen seafood and just take out a selection an hour or two ahead to defrost, but you can also run them under cool water for 20 minutes. This is a variation of one of my favorite dishes of all time - spaghetti alle vongole - but with not just vongole (Italian for clams). In Sicily I noticed that they often make this with several different types of seafood and as a garnish sprinkle pistachio powder on top. We just finished our little bag of it which cost €4, but it was heavenly and deep green because it grows on the slopes of Etna.
Spaghetti al fishy
Serves 4.
Selection of seafood of choice: clams (in brine or raw in shells), shrimp (raw), calamari (raw), mussels (raw in shells)
1/2 cup clam juice if you don't use clams in brine
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
approx. half cup white wine
parsley, finely chopped (as much as you like, but don't overdo it)
two tomatoes, or so, chopped pretty small (you could also not use tomato at all, your choice. If you go this route, just make sure you have a bit more juice and wine to have a sauce to cover the pasta.)
pepper
pistachio powder to garnish (you could just mash up some whole pistachios)
1 lb spaghetti

How it's done:
Fry the garlic in the olive oil a tiny bit (don't let it brown!) and then add the clam juice and the wine and reduce by half. (I really wouldn't follow this scientifically because we only work from recipes when we bake!) Add the tomatoes and cook on medium for a few minutes, stirring frequently to turn it into a nice sauce. Don't overcook - it ruins the flavor. Add the seafood in the order of time each needs to cook and again, don't overcook, especially the shrimp because they dry out. If the clams are in brine, they are already cooked and can go last just to warm them up. Finally add parsley and pepper. You probably won't need salt if you used clam juice/brine. Cook the pasta to al dente and mix it all together when done. And remember: DON'T PUT CHEESE ON IT. IT'S FISH. (I think only tuna or possibly salmon can go with a dairy product.)

Thank you. Si mangia!