My Favorite Spanish Cheese and Crackers
One balmy day in late spring, I was riding through some mountainous, windy roads in route to a non-commercial, meticulously maintained farm. After seeing the operations and learning about their crops, livestock, and facilities, we stopped in for a glass of chilled, sparkling wine. I don’t recall a host ever being more hospitable. She kept reaching into her bag and pulling out package after package of a cache of cheeses. One trio of cheeses, Trader Joe’s Spanish Cheese Tapas Sampler, hit my palate like none other. I never thought I was one for hard cheeses, but I was instantaneously enamored with the mild, buttery flavors of Spanish Iberico and Manchego cheeses. And after learning that Trader Joe’s carries both cheeses in wedges, my cheese was a given, so the trick was to pick a cracker that didn’t overpower the mild flavor profile of the Spanish cheeses. Then, I thought of Simple Mills’s Fine Ground Sea Salt Almond Flour Crackers, a nutty but simply addictive cracker that a dear friend, Tina Walia, introduced me to. The pairing of this subtle, crunchy cracker with the Spanish Manchego and Iberico cheeses is a match made in heaven! Try it for yourself and see there’ll be no going back! Especially for my GF eaters, as this recipe is gluten free.
Ingredients
- 1 Trader Joe’s Spanish Cheese Tapas Sampler
- OR: a wedge of Manchego and Iberico Cheeses, found at Trader Joe’s or Costco
- 1/3 bag of Simple Mill’s Fine Ground Sea Salt Almond Flour Crackers, found at Costco or online
Directions
- Step 1 If you’re using Trader Joes’s Spanish Cheese Tapas Sampler, remove the slices of cheese and lay them whole on a platter or chop them into smaller cubes, matchsticks, or slices.
- Step 2 If you’re using the wedges of Iberico and Manchego cheese, remove the wrapping and cut the blocks into vertical slices. Then, lay the slices down and cut them into smaller matchsticks or cubes. Just be sure to cut off the colored rind.
- Step 3 Regardless of the origin, whether the cheese began as a sampler or wedge, the final cuts may look the same. So, assemble the cubes, matchsticks, or slices decoratively on a platter.
- Step 4 Then, open the bag of Simple Mill’s crackers and use your artistic license to distribute the crackers around the cheese on a platter. Serve and enjoy!
For the classic pairing of cheese with crackers, this combination of hard Spanish cheeses with crisp, almond crackers is a delight for the senses. Assembled in just 5 minutes, the buttery Manchego and Iberico cheeses pair perfectly with the nutty Simple Mill’s crackers, without one overpowering the other. Try it for yourself and see that you’ll be hooked!