SEARCHING FOR THE BEST TOMATO

 

Nine local varieties of tomato, in search of the best.

A friend complained that she couldn’t find good tomatoes—right now, at the height of tomato season! I took up the challenge—to find the best tomato. I bought a lot of tomatoes at my local, village market and set up a cata, a tasting. 

Top row, from left: Daniela, Castellano, Ensalada, Rama. Second row, Canario, Roma, Raf, Kumato and Corazon de Buey. The cherry tomatoes are just for pretty; I didn't include them in the tasting. 

I had nine different varieties (plus cherry tomatoes). Using local (Málaga, Andalusia) nomenclature they were Daniela, Ensalada, Kumato, Canario, Castellano, Corazon de Buey, Raf, Rama and Roma. 

I soon discovered that the local names are not all actual varietals. “Rama” just refers to tomatoes “on the vine.” “Ensalada” just means “salad tomato;” it may or may not be the same as Valenciano, which may or may not be a Rutgers tomato.  Nor do the names correspond to American names. Buying locally, I did not have access to varieties from other regions of Spain.

The Castellano variety was the largest specimen (between 14 and 16 ounces). In spite of the name, it is grown locally, is quite similar to the famed tomato, Huevo de Toro (bull's ball), which I was unable to find in my market. The Castellano is sweet/tart, fruity, soft and juicy, thin-skinned. It is easily damaged in handling, so is not widely distributed.

This Corazon de Buey--"ox heart"-- is a puny specimen. It comes from my garden, where the plants were twice dug up by rooting wild boar and stressed by tomato rot. Like the Castellano, this variety doesn't travel well. It has leathery skin, but peels easily. It's juicy and very sweet.

 

The Daniela variety, widely commercialized. Large, round, red, it is gorgeous. It will keep a couple weeks without deteriorating. 

Where I live, this variety is called Ensalada. It's large and frequently comes to market while still quite green. Local cooks like the green fruit, cut into gajos, wedges, dressed with olive oil and lots of salt. I pick out the ripest (reddest) of these tomatoes and let them mature a couple days more. They are juicy, sweet/acid balanced. This was the second largest tomato, weighing from 8 to 12 ounces.

The Kumato is a protected cultivar, developed in Spain, unusual for its darkened red color. It is tough skinned (best peeled) and has a winey, tart flavor, very firm texture. 

Deeply ridged, the bright red Raf tomato is very pretty. It has an intense flavor and is quite firm. Developed in Almería, the name stands for resistance to Fusarium, a disease that affects tomato plants.  

Rama tomatoes come to market dangling from the vine. They are medium-sized, very red and long lasting. The rama, or branch, is useful for hanging the tomatoes, the best way to keep them.

Two varieties here, on the left is the Canario, a small round tomato extensively grown in the Canary Islands. On the right is the Roma, or tomate pera, "pear" tomato, known in English as the plum tomato. It's grown year-round under plastic and, besides being a fine cooking tomato, is a reasonably good salad tomato in the winter when other tomatoes fare poorly.  

The tasting plate--nine varieties, no salt, no oil, plain toast to nibble between tastes.

Was this beauty the best tomato we tasted? It's probably the variety that so disappointed my tomato-loving friend. With its smooth red skin, no lumps or blemishes, it looks like the perfect tomato. 

Maybe somewhere it's as good as it gets. The Daniela is bred to stand up to industrialized picking, packing and shipping. Besides looking good, it has a long shelf life. 

No, along with Rama and Canario, the Daniela was the least good tomato we tasted. They are insipid in flavor, mealy in texture. Not what you want to make a great gazpacho.

And the winner is--- This wasn't a fair fight. The best tasting tomato was not one purchased at the municipal market. It was the stunted Corazon de Buey from my own garden. Of the market tomatoes, I liked best the Castellano (bigger than Beefsteak!), the Ensalada and, surprising to me, the Kumato. All three had the most intense flavors, best sweet/acid balance. The Ensalada, in fact, is my go-to tomato for salads, gazpacho, sandwiches. 

Tomato Salad with Cheese

Ensalada de Tomate con Queso

This salad is best if the tomatoes are sliced and dressed with vinaigrette shortly before serving. The longer they stand with salt, the more juices they give off. Of course, the juicy version of tomato salad is pretty delicious too; served with bread for dunking.

 

Tomatoes with especially tough skins are best peeled. Your choice. Slice the tomatoes not too thick, not too thin—3/8 inch is about right. 

I like queso fresco de cabra, a fresh, soft, white goat cheese, for this salad. It’s very mild in flavor and not very salty. Feta or fresh mozzarella could be used instead. 

3-4 tomatoes

4 ounces fresh white goat cheese

Vinaigrette for Tomato Salad (recipe follows)

Croutons (optional)

Maldon salt flakes

Use very sharp knife to slice tomatoes.

If desired, peel the tomatoes. Cut away the stems and slice the tomatoes crosswise. Cut large slices in half. Spread the sliced tomatoes on a platter or divide between 4 individual plates.

Slice the cheese and cut it into 1 ½ -inch pieces. Tuck the slices between the sliced tomatoes. Spoon the vinaigrette over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with croutons, if desired. Sprinkle generously with salt flakes.

Vinaigrette for Tomato Salad

Vinagreta para Tomates

For this vinaigrette, I used Picual, a single varietal extra virgin olive oil, instead of my usual blended oil. It’s pungent, with a bite that complements the sweetness of fresh tomatoes. I added vinegar in moderation. Tomatoes are good with no vinegar at all, but a small quantity of vinegar helps to emphasize their sweetness. There’s not much salt in the dressing, but be sure to sprinkle the tomatoes liberally with flaky salt to serve. Garlic is optional; you may prefer to leave it out.

The vinaigrette can be made in advance. Keep it, covered, at room temperature up to 8 hours. Add the parsley immediately before using the vinaigrette.

1 small clove garlic, minced or crushed

¼ teaspoon salt

2-3 teaspoons Sherry vinegar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

In a small bowl combine the garlic, salt and vinegar. Whisk in the oil. Stir in the parsley immediately before using the vinaigrette.

Toasts with Tomato

Pan con Tomate

Spread grated fresh tomato pulp on toasted bread. Add olive oil and sliced ham.

For pan amb tomàquet in Cataluña, you rub toasted bread with tomato, but in Andalusia, for pan tumaca, you spread the toast with lots of grated tomato pulp. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and you’ve got a perfect breakfast or snack. Add thinly sliced serrano or ibérico ham (omit the salt) and it’s sensational.

Sliced bread or rolls, split open

Tomatoes

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt, if needed

Sliced serrano or ibérico ham

Use thickly sliced country bread, baguette, split bollos (crusty rolls) or molletes (soft buns). Toast the bread slices or split rolls in a toaster, on a ridged grill pan or under the broiler. 

Grate tomato, discard skin.

Grate the tomatoes coarsely, discarding the skins. (Approximately 1 medium tomato for a 7-inch bread roll.)  Spread the tomato pulp on the toasted bread. Drizzle generously with oil. Sprinkle with salt. Lay sliced ham on top. Serve rolls open-faced or as sandwiches. 

Lots more ideas for how to use tomatoes here.

The festival of the Tomate Huevo de Toro (Guadalhorce, Málaga) runs all through the month of August. See a list of restaurants featuring special menus with this outstanding tomato here.

COOKING WITH NICO

 

Grandson Nico with his poké bowl. (Photos by Daniel Searl)

“Can you show me how to make poké bowl?” asked Nico, my 13-year-old grandson who had come to visit for a week. “What’s a poké bowl?” I asked. Nico showed me a photo of the bowl he had enjoyed in Segovia, the first stop on a trip around Spain with his parents. 

Poké is a Japanesy-Hawaiian dish, a combo of seafood, chicken or tofu and salad vegetables on seasoned rice. But, what’s it doing in Spain? Apparently, poké bowls are popular. The restaurant in Segovia, Selfish Poke, bills itself as “Hawaii meets Segovia” and claims the food is so good “you won’t want to share.” 

I’m guessing the “build your own bowl” style appealed to Nico, who is an eclectic but finicky eater. He’s crazy about cuttlefish but eschews (some words for you to look up, Nico) cooked green beans. At the restaurant he opted for raw tuna with algae salad, corn kernels and sliced avocado served over rice with a ponzu sauce.

Searing fresh tuna.

Nico and I shopped for fresh tuna at the local market. We came home with two thick tuna steaks. As we intended to eat the tuna raw or very rare, I popped it in the freezer for 24 hours which destroys any possible parasites. Before assembling the bowls, I seared the tuna on all sides, leaving it rare inside. We cut it into bite-size cubes. 

I had several kinds of seaweed in the cupboard, so I made a seaweed salad. I made ponzu sauce using the recipe in Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art, by Shizuo Tsuji, but substituting PX Sherry for mirin, a sweet cooking wine, in the recipe.

While Nico was out playing basketball with his cousin, I made sushi rice, using Spanish Valencian short-grain rice. It’s washed and steamed, then seasoned with rice vinegar and salt.

Cucumber curls to garnish.

I cooked romano green beans cut into short lengths and asparagus tips for the rest of us who do like cooked vegetables. Nico grated carrots and curled cucumber ribbons. I put out an Asian-inflected cole slaw (rice vinegar and a little sesame oil). Even though raw, Nico was having none of it. Cherry tomatoes, yes. 

Nico and I laid out a poké bowl assembly board. Here’s what we had.

Build your own poké bowl.

Vinegared rice

Seared tuna, cut in dice

Cole slaw

Romano beans

Asparagus tips

Cherry tomatoes

Grated carrots

Slivered onions

Cucumber twists

Chopped red bell pepper

Strips of nori (seaweed)

Seaweed salad (recipe follows)

Ponzu sauce (recipe follows)

Nico went first, spreading rice in the bottom of the bowl, adding tuna, carrots, seaweed salad, peppers. Even a few cooked vegetables, just for the beauty shot. He ladled on some sauce. Except for missing corn kernels, he was very satisfied with our poké efforts. Once he gets back home where he can buy ponzu sauce in a bottle, he should easily be able to replicate the poké bowl. 

Nico builds his poké bowl--first, a scoop of sushi rice, then cubes of seared tuna and seaweed salad.

Nico chooses cubes of tuna, seaweed salad, cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers, grated carrots and a few green beans, just for color (he didn't plan on eating the beans).

Seaweed Salad

Ensalada de Alga

You can buy jars of prepared seaweed salad or you can easily prepare it yourself with dried algae. Use a single seaweed, such as wakame, or a combination. I used wakame plus a little kombu and sea spaghetti. 

The seaweed is edible after simply soaking in water to rehydrate it. But I prefer it cooked, as well. Soak the sea spaghetti and wakame separately for 10 minutes and cook each in simmering water 10 minutes more. Soak kombu 10 minutes and cook it for 35 minutes.

 

1 ½ cups rehydrated and cooked seaweed (about 1 ounce dry)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons Sherry vinegar

Salt, to taste

Toasted sesame seeds, to serve

Sliced cucumber, to serve

Drain the seaweed well. Place it in handfuls on a cutting board and chop or shred it. Put the seaweed in a bowl. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar. Mix with the seaweed. Taste for salt and add if needed. Serve immediately or refrigerate, covered.

To serve, sprinkle the salad with toasted sesame seeds and garnish with sliced cucumber.

Ponzu Sauce, Spanish Variant

Aliño Ponzu

Instead of mirin, a sweet Japanese cooking wine, I used PX Sherry in this recipe. Put it in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil to cook off the alcohol. Cool before adding to the sauce. The authentic Japanese recipe for ponzu says to mature the sauce, refrigerated, for 3 months. I made it the day before we used it. 

1 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1 cup soy sauce

¼ cup PX Sherry, alcohol cooked off

Small handful of bonito flakes (optional)

2-inch square of kombu (kelp)

Mix all the ingredients and let stand 24 hours. Strain the sauce and discard the solids. Refrigerate.

More recipes with algae (seaweed), a product gathered and processed in Spain here.

Another Japanesy recipe: Spanish-Style Sushi.

CELEBRATE CHOCOLATE!

Chocolate.

Did you celebrate World Chocolate Day (July 7)? Oblivious of the occasion, I nevertheless was moved to make a chocolate dessert. Visiting friends presented me with a lovely gift, a 1 ¾ -pound block—like an ingot--of dark chocolate. I couldn’t just let it sit there to be chipped away in bits.

July 7, 1550, was, supposedly, the date Hernán Cortes, Spanish explorer, introduced chocolate to Spain. Chocolate was originally consumed by the Mayans of Central America. The Aztecs discovered cacao when they took control of Mayan lands in trade expansion. Known as “food of the gods,” it became so valued that only the nobility was allowed to partake of it. Emperor Moctezuma served a chocolate beverage flavored with vanilla in cups of gold. The Spaniards were impressed.

Back in Spain, the Spaniards added sugar to the bitter brew and chocolate soon became all the rage with the nobility. From 1521 until 1600, Spain had a virtual monopoly on the trade in cacao from the New World. Only after that did the British, Dutch and French expand cultivation of the treasured cacao in other parts of the world (Indonesia, Africa, the West Indies). 

Spain still has a passion for thick, drinking chocolate. What is surprising is that they invented few desserts based on chocolate. Even if you spell it “mus” or call it “espuma,” chocolate mousse is still French. 

I’m making a chilled, no-bake chocolate tart. 

Easy to make, no baking required--rich chocolate tart.

 

Tart has a crunchy crumb crust, creamy filling and intense chocolate ganache topping.

Peanuts on top and peanut butter in the filling add depth to the chocolate.

No-Bake Chocolate Tart

Tarta de Chocolate sin Horno

This tart needs to be chilled at least 8 hours to firm it up. It also can be frozen. 

Use any dark chocolate (from 54 to 70 percent). If you’re using very bittersweet chocolate, you may want to add sugar to the filling mix. 

Galletas for crumb crust.

Unbaked crumb crust needs butter to set up firm, so this is one recipe in which olive oil doesn’t substitute well. Use plain cookies, such as Spanish galletas Marías, digestives, vanilla wafers or graham crackers to make the crumbs for the crust. 

A food processor works well for grinding the crumbs and mixing the cream cheese and chocolate for the filling.

Chop the chocolate to make melting easier. Melt it over hot water or in the microwave.

PX Sherry, a sweet, raisiny wine, adds a subtle fruity taste to the chocolate. If you don’t have it, use a tablespoon of milk to mix the filling.

For the crumb crust:

12 ounces galletas (plain cookies) to make 3 1/3 cups crumbs

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon peanut butter

½ cup melted butter (3 ½ ounces)

Grease a 9-inch springform mold. 

Grind the galletas in a food processor to make fine crumbs. (Save 2 tablespoons of the crumbs for the topping.) Add the cocoa powder to the crumbs and process again. Add the peanut butter and combine. With the processor running, pour in the melted butter and process until the crumbs come together in a ball.  

Spread the crumb-butter mixture evenly in the springform pan. Use a large spoon or flat plate to press it firmly. Refrigerate the crumb crust at least 1 hour before filling.

For the chocolate filling:

7 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1 ½ cups cream cheese (12 ounces), softened

1 ¼ cups mascarpone (9 ounces), softened

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon PX (sweet raisin wine)

Pinch of salt

Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of boiling water. Heat the chocolate without stirring until most of it appears melted. Stir the chocolate until smooth and remove it from the heat. Let it cool before incorporating in the filling mixture.

Combine the cream cheese and mascarpone in the bowl of a food processor. Process until they are smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and process again. With the processor running, pour in the melted chocolate. Add the vanilla, the PX wine and the salt. 

Pour the chocolate filling into the chilled crumb crust. Spread it evenly. Cover the pan with plastic film and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

For the topping:

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

½ cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons roasted salted peanuts

1 galleta

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place the cream in a small saucepan. Bring it just to a boil. Immediately remove and pour over the chocolate. Let it stand 5 minutes to soften the chocolate. Then stir until chocolate is completely smooth.

Place the peanuts and galleta in a mini-processor and process until coarsely chopped. 

To finish the tart:

Loosen the sides of the tart in the springform pan. Release the side and carefully remove it. Place the tart on a cake dish. Pour the chocolate topping evenly over the top of the tart, letting excess drip over the sides. 

Sprinkle the top with the mixture of chopped peanuts and galleta. 

Return the tart to the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Thanks to Sharman Haley, who gifted me with a 1 3/4-pound block of dark chocolate. Sharman is the granddaughter of the founder of Brown & Haley (Tacoma, WA), makers of Almond Roca and other chocolates.

More recipes with chocolate:

Chocolate-Fig Bonbons.

Dark Chocolate Cream Custards.

Hot Drinking Chocolate.

Cake with White Chocolate Mousse.

Frozen Torte with Chocolate Filling (Tarta Helada).

A SUMMER MENU

What a pleasure to have dinner guests again! Although, I’ve totally abandoned my hostessing skills, I still enjoy putting together a meal for friends and sitting around the table to catch up—or get acquainted.

On a recent sticky July evening, I had one pescatarian and one vegetarian among my guests, so putting together a menu was a challenge. Ben suggested “a big fish” for the grill. I added several vegetable dishes, some inspired by my garden, and two sauces to go with everything. 

Here’s a summer menu that you can adapt to every taste.

Rebujitos (recipe here.)

Rebujitos—spritzer with fino Manzanilla. 

Salad cups with tomatoes, cucumber, melon, goat cheese and fresh basil.

Grilled corvina

Green chile-cilantro sauce (mojo verde)

        Caper-yogurt sauce

Grilled vegetables (escalivada)

Potatoes with lemon dressing (papas aliñás)

Watermelon ice cream

Salad Cups with Melon and Cheese

Ensaladilla con Melón y Queso Fresco

Summer tomatoes, crunchy cuke, sweet melon, soft cheese and fresh basil. 

I like queso fresco de cabra, a soft, fresh white goat cheese, with the raw vegetables and sweet melon. Feta would be good as well. The quantities can easily be increased to serve a crowd. With the addition of diced smoked ham the salad easily becomes a (non-vegetarian) lunch bowl. 

Serves 4-6.

1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes

1 ½ cups diced melon

½ cup peeled and diced cucumber

¼ cup diced celery

2 tablespoons chopped scallion

1 cup diced queso fresco de cabra (fresh white goat cheese)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar

Salt

Handful fresh basil leaves

Salad greens

Pine nuts, to garnish

Combine the tomatoes, melon, cucumber, celery, scallion and cheese in a bowl. Add the oil, vinegar and salt to taste. Mix well. Salad can be prepared in advance and refrigerated, covered, until ready to serve.

Tear the basil into pieces and stir into the salad immediately before serving. Put salad greens in salad cups or small bowls and spoon the salad into the cups. Garnish with pine nuts.

Grilled Corvina

Corvina a la Parilla

Fresh corvina for the grill.

I had two whole corvina, a fish somewhat like sea bass, each weighing almost 2 pounds before being gutted. I left them unscaled, with the heads on for easiest grilling. We used a gas grill. A hinged grill made turning the fish easy. 

We cut slashes in the fish so they would grill quicker. Grilling time depends on the size and thickness of the fish, heat source and placement of the grill. (Next time we will have the fish butterflied, opened up so they grill a la espalda, "on their back.”) These were done perfectly—the flesh was still moist, but easily lifted off the bone. Ben pulled off the skin and served the pieces of fish onto a serving platter.

Grilled corvina (fish) with grilled summer vegetables and two sauces. Green chile sauce (mojo verde) has green chile, cilantro, garlic and oil (recipe here). The other sauce is yogurt-mayonnaise-capers (recipe here ).

Grilled Summer Vegetables

Escalivada

Grill eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, onion and garlic. Peel the vegetables and dress with oil and vinegar.

The vegetables—eggplant, peppers, onions, tomatoes and a whole head of garlic—roast in the time it takes to char them. They can be grilled before putting the fish on the grill.  Once cool enough to handle, pull off the skins and tear or cut into strips. Mash the cloves of roasted garlic and mix into the vegetables.  Dress with extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. (See the recipe for escalivada here .)

Potates with Lemon Dressing

Patatas Aliñadas

This side can be be prepared in advance and served room temperature or chilled. In tapa bars, it's often served with chopped tomatoes, olives and chunks of (canned) tuna.

Use mature, mealy potatoes that will soak up the dressing, but take care not to overcook them. Chilling the potatoes before peeling and slicing helps to keep them intact. Be sure to use lots of extra virgin olive oil and enough lemon juice to give the potatoes tang. 

1 ½ pounds mature baking potatoes 

Salt

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Red pepper flakes (optional)

Hard cooked egg, sliced, to garnish

Cook the whole potatoes in boiling salted water until they are just tender when pierced with a skewer, 20 to 30 minutes, depending on size. Drain and cool.

Peel the potatoes. Cut them lengthwise into quarters, then slice the potatoes crosswise. Put a layer of potatoes in a bowl. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt and some of the oil. Add the remaining sliced potatoes. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of salt and most of the remaining oil. Add the lemon juice, parsley and red pepper flakes, if using. Stir very gently. 

To serve, spread the potatoes in a shallow bowl. Garnish with sliced egg. Drizzle the remaining oil on top of the potatoes.

Watermelon ice, a cool finale.

Watermelon Ice is a cool finish to a summer meal. It is not ice cream, nor is it sorbet. Pureed watermelon combined with Greek yogurt give a smooth ice. No ice cream machine is needed, but you do need to blend or process the partially frozen ice. (The recipe for Watermelon Ice is here )

Fresh basil, handfuls of it for the salad cups.

Jalapeños! Inspiration for the mojo verde, green chile sauce, to go with the grilled fish.

THIS SANDWICH IS A MEAL ON A BUN

 

Campero sandwich--the homemade version of a fast-food favorite, with chicken, ham, cheese, tomatoes and lettuce.

I've hardly noticed the proliferation of fast-food restaurants in Spain. Then, in a single week, I had several encounters with the Campero malagueño, Málaga’s version of a hero or sub sandwich. The placard outside one establishment listed 50 different versions of the Campero!

Before McDonald´s arrived in Spain (March, 1981, Madrid), hamburgueserías and sandwicherías—fast-food sandwich joints—began popping up in urban areas. They became a popular hangout for teens and a quick lunch option for unfortunate folks working the new intensivo hours, instead of the two-hour midday closure of businesses and schools that allowed for a proper comida (main meal).  The Campero is, in effect, a whole meal on a bun.

The classic Campero is assembled on a round roll, usually a mollete. It is spread with mayonnaise and includes lettuce, tomato, chicken, cooked ham and cheese. The sandwich is always grilled. While it’s meant to be eaten with the hands, it’s fairly messy and needs napkins. 

Here's what you need to know to make the Campero at home.

Mollete has a firm crumb and crust.

The bread. A round bread roll with a firm, but not hard crust. A crusty roll doesn’t work on a grill. Hamburger buns are too sweet and too soft; they aren't sturdy enough to hold up with the contents of the Campero. If you substitute a long roll, such as a bollo or baguette, it’s not a Campero. It has to be round. I used 5 ½ -inch molletes for the Campero. Round ciabatta rolls might make an acceptable substitute. 

The sandwich spread. Mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup. You can take it from there: tahini, tartare sauce, curry, picante (hot) sauce. I saw a version called “campero gringo” with barbecue sauce. The sandwich spread was my only “innovative” touch to the classic Campero—I made a mayonnaise-mango chutney sauce.

Summer's best tomatoes for this sandwich.

The tomatoes. Use the best beefsteak tomatoes. The slices should completely cover the round of bread, so use two or three big slices.

The lettuce. Crisp iceberg lettuce holds up best to grilling. But any salad green works just fine. Try rucula for extra flavor. 

Onions. Optional, but usual, either fried crisp or griddled. I made some lightly pickled red onions.

The chicken, etc. Grilled chicken cutlets are classic for the Campero. But, breaded and fried cutlets or sliced roast chicken will work too. The etc. includes pork, beef, tuna, duck breast. A vegetarian version might include grilled slices of eggplant and portobello mushrooms.

Additions. To the classic Campero, add an over-easy egg. Beyond that, your imagination can take over: bacon, roasted red peppers, fried green peppers, caramelized apples, olives, fresh herbs.

Add a layer of cooked ham or lacón.

Ham. This is cooked ham, in Spain known as jamón york. I used hand-sliced smoked lacón, a cooked shoulder ham.  Variations: serrano or ibérico ham, smoked salmon.

The cheese. Any melting cheese. Semi-cured Manchego or smoky Idiazábel are terrific, but good old “American” will work too. Blue cheese, goat cheese, mozzarella. I used a soft, mixed-milk (cow, goat, sheep) cheese, pre-sliced for convenience. 

Give the buns a quarter turn to get cross-hatch grill marks. Or use a sandwich press.

The grill. A sandwich press is perfect. Otherwise use a ridged grill pan to make the toasty grill marks on the bread. If you haven’t got a grill pan, use any flat griddle or heavy skillet.

Grilled Chicken and Cheese Sandwich

Campero Malagueño

Here’s what you need to make four big sandwiches. The recipes for grilling the chicken, making the sandwich spread and pickling the onions are below.

 Tomatoes, molletes, mayo, cheese, ham, onions, lettuce, chicken.

For the Campero sandwiches

Molletes (round buns)

4 grilled chicken breast cutlets 

4 (5 ½-inch) molletes (buns) or ciabatta rolls

Mayonnaise-chutney sandwich spread

Sliced tomatoes

Lettuce leaves

Pickled red onions

Sliced cooked ham

Sliced cheese

Olive oil

For the grilled chicken

4 chicken breast cutlets, about 4 ounces each, ¼ inch thick (from 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast)

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

Olive oil

Spice blend for chicken.

Spread the cutlets out on a plate. Combine the salt, pepper, cumin and pimentón in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of the chicken. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature.

Brush a grill pan or heavy skillet with oil and place on moderately high heat. Grill the chicken cutlets until they are just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Remove.

Chutney, mustard, mayonnaise.

For the mayonnaise-mango sandwich spread:

¼ cup mango chutney

½ cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

If the chutney is chunky, mash it with a fork. Combine chutney, mayonnaise and mustard in a small bowl. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to spread.

For the Vinegared Red Onions:

1 red onion

1 cup water

½ cup white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons salt

Cut the onion in half from stem to root, then slice crosswise. Combine the water, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Add the onions. Allow them to macerate 2 hours. 

Drain the onions to serve. To store them, place in a non-reactive container and add enough of the vinegar water to cover them. Store refrigerated up to 5 days.

To assemble the Campero Sandwiches:

Split the molletes. Spread both halves with the mango-mayonnaise sandwich spread. On the bottom half, arrange a layer of sliced tomatoes. Top with lettuce. Place the whole chicken cutlet on top. Add a layer of sliced ham. Top with sliced cheese. Place the top half of the mollete on the stack. Press the sandwich gently.

Sandwich assembled, ready to grill.

Brush a ridged grill pan or sandwich press with oil and heat it. Brush the tops of the molletes with oil. Place a sandwich on the grill for 1 minute. Give it a quarter turn and grill 30 seconds more. If using a grill pan, carefully turn the sandwich over. Repeat, grilling the sandwich 1 minute, then turning it 90º. When the bread is marked by the grill and the cheese is beginning to melt, remove the sandwich to a cutting board. 

Cut the sandwich in half and serve immediately.  

Cut sandwich in half to serve.

Fast food joints serve fries alongside the Campero. I've got spicy radishes.

Grilling melts the cheese and makes appetizing grill marks on the bun.

More sandwich recipes:

Serrano Ham and Pork Loin Sandwiche (Serranito)

Tuna and Roasted Pepper Sandwich.

Steak Sandwich with Mushroom Ketchup (Pepito).

Mini-Roll with Spicy Sardines.

Fried Squid Sandwich with Alioli.