I would like to give you a little tour of southern Spain: no passport necessary; however, all you need is a blender and some good, juicy tomatoes. Online searches will tell you gazpacho is a summer dish—but when you need something heartier, creamier, and more comforting during tough times, salmorejo is the real answer. It is that type of dish that is very subtle yet never leaves your memory. Think of purdied tomatoes’ velvetiness, of the gentle pucker of vinegar, of the heartiness of garlic, with an addition of finely chopped boiled eggs and crunchy treated ham as a topping. Yes, it is Godly as it gets
A Bit of History about Sunny Córdoba
Salmorejo was born in Córdoba, a beautiful old historical city of Andalusia, where both the sun is very generous, and the tomatoes even more generous. It started as the simple meal of peasants- peasants mixing stale bread with overgrown plants in their gardens to make something that is not only filling but something that cools one down in the heat of the relentless summer. Through generations, Salmorejo became the classic summer dish all over Spain, as it is enjoyed in tapas bars as well as in homes
But unlike the notion that it is simply its cousin gazpacho, salmorejo is thicker & more rich like the thicker, more opulent sister of gazpacho. It is taken as a cold dish; suitable for a hot afternoon when people do not want to cook.
Ingredients
To fantasise about this Spanish soup, here are the ingredients that you’ll need:
- The riper, the better; plum or Roma tomatoes are best
- 200g (or about two cups) old white bread (from white bread that is gone stale)
- 1 clove of garlic (add more or less depending on how sensitive to garlic you are)
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil (this isn’t the time to cheap out—your dish will taste the difference)
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (red wine vinegar, substitute)
Toppings:
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, in little pieces
- Jamón serrano or prosciutto, which are diced fine or crisped
Substitutes:
- Bread free of gluten in case of need
Vegan version? Replace the egg and the ham with some diced avocado or toasted seed.
Instructions
Step 1: Score a small ‘X’ on each tomato, dunk them in boiling water for 30 seconds, then into ice water. The skins slide right off
Step 2: Place them in water and cut them into pieces, and put them in a blender. Blitz smooth
Step 3: Crush the dried bread into small chunks and place it in the tomato purée, and allow the bread to soak up the juices in about 10 minutes. This will aid in softening it and melting
Step 4: Toss in a clove of garlic and a splash of sherry vinegar—just enough to make the flavours wake up and dance. Mix again and leave it lump-free
Step 5: Slow-drizzle the olive oil into the blender as it whirls—watch the soup go thick, smooth as satin, and turn the colour of a summer sunset
Step 6: To make it savoury. Chill it for at least 2 hours, or overnight. The (ice-cold) salmorejo is the best
Step 7: Ladle it into bowls, then go wild—a blizzard of chopped egg, crackling ham bits, and that mandatory golden swirl of olive oil to seal the deal
Serving Tips
- The best way to serve is cold, or rather, out of the fridge
- Serve it with crusty rustic bread or crusty slices of a baguette.
- There is both a fine dainty first dish, and there is also enough whereof as a light main dish on hot days
- Of course, you can pour it into small glasses and make an easily enjoyed appetiser shot in case you are serving to guests!
Precautions
It is all about good ingredients as well. The quality of the olive oil and tomatoes is supposed to be exceptionally good as well because there are not that many ingredients in the recipe.
- Would not be used, stale bread instead of fresh. Beaten bread will produce a gummy soup
- Garlic is poisonous. Less is more–the raw garlic overpowers the paghau lush tomatoes
- Chilled and to be served. Chilled is not the same. All that it needs is fridge time to turn out to be the best
More About Salmorejo
As it has been said, the salmorejo is a dish of Spanish origin, and it is the type of food which is not so novel and, at the same time, it is modern. It is a bowl of sun-rays- the very fig of something that is good and does not require much time on a fire. So when the heat of summer is on, or you get a craving to taste something Spanish, then include this creamy, dreamy recipe in your menu
Bon apatite, my friend.
