Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano

There is a great Spanish restaurant in my hometown that serves an amazing salad tossed with loads of Pecorino Romano on it. It's a simle salad of iceberg lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and green olives stuffed with pimento. The dressing is simply red wine vinegar and peanut oil. The cheese MAKES the salad. In fact, I am craving it now.

That sounds great! Are the olives left whole or are they cut up?

There is a great Spanish restaurant in my hometown that serves an amazing salad tossed with loads of Pecorino Romano on it. It's a simle salad of iceberg lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and green olives stuffed with pimento. The dressing is simply red wine vinegar and peanut oil. The cheese MAKES the salad. In fact, I am craving it now.

That sounds great! Are the olives left whole or are they cut up?

It does sound like a good salad, although perhaps with a different lettuce and is there really any need for olives stuffed with pimento?

There is a great Spanish restaurant in my hometown that serves an amazing salad tossed with loads of Pecorino Romano on it. It's a simle salad of iceberg lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and green olives stuffed with pimento. The dressing is simply red wine vinegar and peanut oil. The cheese MAKES the salad. In fact, I am craving it now.

That sounds great! Are the olives left whole or are they cut up?

They are left whole, but they are the very small ones.

Made that salad last night...it was great, I used olives from an imported mix I buy called Picar Dias. It has small green olives with pimento, with small onions, pepper pieces, tiny pickles. I only used the olives in the salad and left them whole. I did not have iceberg lettuce on hand, used a mix of romaine and butter. We loved it Carrie.

I can't really choose a preference between one and the other. I buy whichever takes my fancy at the time, down at the deli. Most recently, I bought a chunk of nice firm pecorino, and we've only just finished up the last shavings of it last week on a pasta dish. Deliciously nutty flavour - went well with an Adelaide Hills riesling after dinner, and was delicious grated on vegetables and the pasta dish.

Made that salad last night...it was great, I used olives from an imported mix I buy called Picar Dias. It has small green olives with pimento, with small onions, pepper pieces, tiny pickles. I only used the olives in the salad and left them whole. I did not have iceberg lettuce on hand, used a mix of romaine and butter. We loved it Carrie.

So glad you liked it, Karen! There is something about the buttery/nutty and almost gritty texture of the cheese that makes it so good on a salad like that. Haven't been cooking much lately so still have not made it to satisfy my craving. Maybe tonight.

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Okay, it's tonight now...(I'm editing this post) and I did finally give in to my craving. It was almost as good as I remember. One little difference. I don't have a rasp grater here in NC so I could only get the little skinny shreds of cheese and it's a different salad with the little shreds vs. the gritty pulverized cheese you get from a rasp grater. Still good, but lacking that texture thing for me. Also should mention I think it's very important to have very good, ripe tomatoes and to slice them into very slim wedges. Very slim.

Parmigiano is always right; pecorino occasionally misfires, for me, if the sheepiness is too strong.

Chunks of parmigiano with real balsamic... wow.