Mato with Strawberries and Honey

In Barcelona a lot of restaurants have a "menu del dia" at lunchtimes. For between 9 and 15 euros (usually about 10 or 11) you get 3 courses and a drink. Wow.
Now normally I stay away from that sort of deal, because I think that you just cannot produce food of any quality for that sort or price. Plus I always imagined that they just served up whatever stinky old dish the chef could drop-kick over the pass onto your table. (This is precisely what happened to us at Big Fish last Friday. Shame on you Big Fish, with your smelly, fishy rice)


But lately, I have been getting in to the whole economy thing (I know, ewww) and have found that a lot of these menus are actually pretty good. You might start with a slow cooked tomato ragu pasta or clams and artichokes sauteed in white wine, then a main of Catalan butifarra sausage with potatoes and aioli, or chargrilled veal rib with potatoes and aioli, or basically anything with potatoes and aioli. Dessert, or postres as it's called here will probably have two things to choose from; Crema Catalana, which is pretty much a creme brulee, and Mel i Mato. No, this is not Pete Waterman's attempt at chart success in Albania, mel is honey and mato is basically Catalan ricotta cheese. It's a fresh, healthy and a not-too-sweet kind of dessert, perfect for lunch times. And best of all you don't feel guilty after eating it, which allows you to have a mini magnum later in the day.


Oh, and it's really quick and easy.


As it's strawberry season here, this is the version we have been making at home. We also still have two big buckets or elderflower-scented honey from the bees we kept on the roof of The Easton.


Recipe
Serves 2


160 grams of mato or ricotta cheese (preferably the curdy artisan type)
as little as 10 strawberries or as many as you can eat
5 fingers of biscotti biscuits (or some buttery shortbread if you want to get decadent)
2 tablespoons of honey


Wrap the biscuits up in a clean tea towel and smash them into small chunks. Set aside.


Divide the cheese into two portions and gently place on the centre of each plate.


Wash the strawberries, slice in half, and pile up on top of the cheese.

Drizzle the honey all over the strawberries and finally, crumble the crushed biscuits over the top.

You can get as fancy with this as you want, from scenting the ricotta with vanilla or white chocolate, to topping with crunchy honeycomb or baby wild strawberries.


Also try to find a really interesting flavoured honey as well. As different flowers come into bloom throughout the year, the flavours of the honey also change. Hunt down some local apiaries and compare the spring honey with the high summer flow.