Jose Angel Sainz Santander is a master artisan when it comes to Quesadas and Sobaos. Locally his El Andral brand has the reputation of being the finest. And its not hard to see why.
Travelling around Cantabria in Spain while writing for Motorcaravanner Magazine gave us the opportunity to meet him. He invited us to his farm in the town of Selaya to show us how he does it.
It was Alicia, Jose Angel ‘s who began the business of making Quesadas and Sobaos when the family farm began had a milk surplus. She began selling the tasty treats to friends and family. Slowly as her fame grew, she knew she had to expand the business.
Fortunately, Alicia has four sons and one daughter. Jose Angel the eldest took charge of the company while other brothers took responsibility for the farm and food production.
The story starts with their Cantabrian farmland grass. It allows over 140 cows to graze and produce milk for the farm kitchens. There, the milk is pasteurised and set aside for baking.
Milk is used to prepare Sabaos a small cake like feast somewhat akin to an English Maderia Cake or an American Pound cake. It is often eaten for breakfast in this part of Spain.
Curds and whey
But before the milk can be used to make Quesada it first has to undergo another process. Jose Angel adds a rennet to the milk to begin a cheese making process. But just as the curds begin to separate from the whey, he stops the process. The whey is removed and is recycled back into the farm as feed for the newly born calves. That leaves the very soft curds as the basic ingredient for the Quesada.
To the curds, Jose Angel adds flour, sugar, eggs, lemon rind, ground cinnamon and a little salt. It is mixed together and measured out into circular ceramic dishes in which it is baked until set.
The result a sweet, soft, desert that is part cheesecake part baked custard. Each Quesada weighs a kilo and at 11 euros is purchased by local families to be eaten for breakfast. Others eat it as a tasty dessert at weekends.
Make it at home
While separating curds from whey is not easy at home here is an easy to follow recipe that will create a very similar dish.
- 1 kg curd cheese (soft ricotta can be used as a substitute)
- 150g plain flour
- 200g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Rind of 1 lemon
- 80g melted butter
Add eggs, sugar, grated lemon rind, melted butter and a teaspoon full of ground cinnamon. Mix well. Add flour and mix again. Finally add curds or ricotta and mix until it is a lump free liquid.
Pour into cake tins leaving 4 centimetres for product to rise during cooking.
Bake in oven at 350ºF (180º C) for 50 minutes, until the surface becomes golden brown. Don’t worry if you see it grow too much in the oven, it will reduce its size while cooling.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. It will shrink a little as it does so
