Cheese Pâté

This is the last recipe I expected to find when I re-read my book The Cuisines of Spain, by Teresa Barrenechea, published in 2005. I had lots of potato and seafood recipes bookmarked, but I did a double take when I came across this – Almogrote Gomero, or cheese pâté. I love cheese, I love pâtes, and this is a spicy and garlic-y tomatoey cheese spread. What’s not to love?!

From the book: “The people of Gomera, in the Canary Islands, eat this cheese spread with white country-style bread and a glass of wine.” She states that one can also used aged Manchego.

Because of the addition of garden-ripe tomatoes, it’s best to make this pâté during the summer months, but I think it would be great in the winter for an ápres ski spread as well. Only with good greenhouse tomatoes of course.

I’m surprised there aren’t any anchovies in this pâté, because in my food-related Spain experiences, everything pretty much had garlic, anchovies, and tomatoes! But it’s absolutely delicious! I’ve also made gazpacho Andaluz from this cookbook.

Cheese Pâté
printable recipe below

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
2 tomatoes, halved crosswise, grated on the large holes of a handheld grater, skins discarded
1/2 pound Manchego cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a blender, combine the garlic, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the red pepper flakes and process until a smooth paste forms. (I should have used a Magic Bullet or a small blender jar. My small food processor didn’t work that well.)

Add the tomatoes and cheese and process until well combined.

With the motor running, add the remaining 7 tablespoons olive oil one tablespoon at a time, processing until all the oil is fully incorporated. This should take about 2 minutes. The finished mixture should have a smooth, spreadable consistency. Transfer the spread to a bowl. If not using immediately, cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

My pâté was a bit on the soupy side, even though I removed the water from the grated tomatoes. I would recommend draining them very well.

Serve with bread.

Even on the thin side, this pâté is delicious.

I served the spread with some Arbequina olives which we discovered in Cardona, Spain, and used Arbequina olive oil for the recipe, which is delicious.

Cheese Pâté

3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
2 tomatoes, halved crosswise, grated on the large holes of a handheld grater, skins discarded
1/2 pound Manchego cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a blender, combine the garlic, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the red pepper flakes and process until a smooth paste forms.

Add the tomatoes and cheese and process until well combined.

With the motor running, add the remaining 7 tablespoons olive oil one tablespoon at a time, processing until all the oil is fully incorporated. This should take about 2 minutes.

The finished mixture should have a smooth, spreadable consistency.

Transfer the spread to a bowl. If not using immediately, cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.