Blue Cheese Coca With Valdeón & Fuet

Did you know that apparently Pizza wasn’t invented by the Italians and that they actually got their inspiration from Catalonia in northern Spain? Not really an argument that we want to get into, but suffice it to say that cocas are pizza-like pastries typical from Catalonia and just one way of preparing a dish traditionally made all around the Mediterranean. Enjoyed both as savoury or sweet and with all sorts of toppings, whether fish and vegetables, a combination normally enjoyed on the coast, or cheese and meat preferred by those more inland.

In this recipe we’ve used Valdeón, a semi-soft blue cheese from the Valdeón Valley in the Picos de Europa mountain range in northern Spain. A cousin to Cabrales, it is made from a mixture of cows and goats’ milk and has an intensely creamy and deliciously spicy flavour. We paired that with some organic fuet, a cured sausage made from 100% organically reared, free range pork from Catalonia mixed with salt and paprika. These can obviously be substituted for a blue cheese and salami of your choice.

Blue Cheese Coca with Valdeón & Fuet

• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Cuisine: Meat

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 300g strong white bread flour
• 50g cornstarch
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 250ml water (room temperature)
• 5g yeast
• salt, pinch
• 1 large ripe tomato
• 1 medium onion
• 100g valdeón cheese or another blue cheese
• 1 organic fuet or salami about 90g
• 100g rocket
• 1tsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp paprika

Instructions

1. First off, we make the dough. In a large mixing jug, mix the water with the yeast and then add the olive oil and the salt and stir together.
2. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch and oregano. Make a well in the centre and pour in your water, mixing and kneading until the dough comes together and forms a ball. Cover with a tea-towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Whilst it’s resting, preheat your oven to 180C.
3. Meanwhile, you can prepare your toppings. Slice your tomato and onion and then cut your fuet or salami into thin slices too. Crumble your blue cheese into a bowl and put everything to one side.
4. In a pestle and mortar, mash together your garlic cloves with 1 tsp of olive oil and the paprika. Set a frying pan over a medium heat and add the rocket together with the garlic mix and cook until the rocket starts to wilt. Set aside.
5. After the 30 minutes, take your dough and on some floured baking paper, work it into rectangle using a rolling pin. Then place it on a baking tray and put it into your pre-heated oven for 5 minutes.
6. Remove the coca from the oven and then cover with the slices of tomatoes and onion. Put it back into the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes or until tomatoes and onion became soft.
7. Remove from the oven once again, this time adding the slices of fuet and sprinkling over the blue cheese. Bake again for 10 more minutes or until the cheese has completed melted.
8. Remove from the oven for the last time and garnish with the garlic rocket. Cut into squares and serve.