Fried Los Ibores Cheese with Red and Green Tomato Jams

A surprising mixture: When fried, Los Ibores cheese becomes almost liquid inside. The tomato jams are not too sweet and make a very pleasant contrast with the cheese. The dish can be accompanied with a mixed salad of green and purplish leaves.

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 30 min.

Cook Time: 30 min. plus the time for frying the cheese

Ingredients:

8 slices of Los Ibores cheese (or Garrotxa)

2 eggs

Bread crumbs

Plenty of oil for frying

Jams:

1 lb 2 oz red tomatoes

1 lb 2 oz green tomatoes

The weight of the tomato pulp in sugar

Lemon juice

Lemon rind cut in fine julienne strips

Preparation:

Place the cheese in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Jams: Make a cross-shaped cut in the tomatoes at the opposite end to the stem; blanch for 5 minutes in boiling water then peel. Cut in half, squeeze out any excess water (with the seeds) then weigh the pulp of the green and red tomatoes separately. Place in the blender to make two separate pulps. Cook each in a different pan with the same weight of sugar, a splash of lemon juice and a few very fine strips of lemon rind. Simmer for about half an hour. The jams will be ready when a drop placed on a plate holds its shape.

Remove the slices of cheese from the freezer. Dip into beaten egg and bread crumbs and fry in hot oil until golden. Serve the freshly-fried cheese with the cold jams and perhaps a salad.

Selected by María Jesús Gil de Antuñano
Recipe courtesy of Spain GourmeTour magazine.