Cheese and Guava (Brazilian Romeu e Julieta)

Romeu e Julieta obviously gets its name from the Shakespeare play. This dessert which is widespread in Brazil consists of cheese and guava paste. The cheese that is used is kind of a dense cheese called queijo minas or queijo mineiro. It is from the region of Minas Gerais, the second most populated region in Brazil. This region of about 20 million people is a little larger than France. Queijo minas is slightly salty and does not have a strong flavour. The other cheese that can be used is a rather creamy cheese, which is called requeijão. Queijo minas can also be replaced with mozzarella, but do not share that with a Brazilian. The second ingredient of this dessert is guava paste also called goiabada. It can be purchased online or in Brazilian specialty stores. The paste consists of guava, sugar and water. The goiabada variety used in Romeu e Julieta is the one with guava fragments (goiabada cascão). Goiabada is an ingredient that can be found in all Portuguese colonies. It dates from the colonization of Brazil, where guavas were used instead of quince in the quince cheese (marmelada in Portuguese). The combination of cheese and guava paste is called Romeo and Juliet. But this combination is available in a variety of recipes like empadas, just on toast for breakfast, cheesecake or even pizza. Yes pizza. A few weeks ago, I went to dinner with my friend Gaby to a Brazilian pizzeria. As a dessert, we were served pizza with Nutella and banana, strawberry jam, as well as Romeu e Julieta. I went to that same store to buy them for my Brazilian recipe shortly after the miraculous victory of Brazil against Chile.

½ lb queijo minas or mozzarella
½ lb goiabada guava paste

Cut slices of queijo minas and goiabada.

Combine a slice of each.

Makes 4 servings.