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I love Salmorejo! Winter or summer, this is one of the most lovely dishes to enjoy with a glass of Sherry. Filling yet refreshing, I couldn’t suggest a more ideal soup when you simply want a five minute recipe in a pinch.

Ingredients

40 oz of tomatoes (skinned and cored)
1 garlic clove (personally, I like two) pealed and chopped
A small piece of day old bread (approx. 4 in.)
2 tbs Vinegar (Pedro Ximenez is ideal if you can find it)
1/8 litre of Extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Garnish (optional)

1 Boiled egg
Cubed serrano ham
Cubed tomatoes
Fresh cilantro

Preparation

Immerse the bread in a bowl of water. I can’t emphasis enough how important this step is as I have failed to do this on many occasion, which has led to a slightly lumpy soup thick soup. Trust me, not the ideal. While this is soaking, blanch the tomatoes. Put under cold water briefly, then peel, core and cube them.

When the bread is finished, but it into a bowl and squeeze out the extra water. You can also wrap the bread in a cheese cloth and twist, which will accomplish the same task.

In the bread bowl, add tomatoes, salt, garlic, and then mix. You can use a serious high powered mixer, or simply a hand mixer, but either way, your end goal is to create a creamy thick mixter sans lumps. If the texture is too dense, add a touch of water, mix, check and repeat if necessary.

Once your ideal texture is reached, check for salt using the same steps, followed by vinegar. This is a slow process that requires a bit of patience, but if you don’t stop to check the progress of your Salmorejo, you may be adding too much acidity, salt, garlic etc. Therefore, best to stop, taste, repeat before adding more of any ingredient. Finally add the oil.

Presentation

Although you could technically have salmorejo alone, I find it lacks the pizazz that a little garnish can bring. I like to serve the salmorejo in small bowls surrounded with even smaller serving dishes filled with chopped bowled egg, tomatoes, jamon and cilantro (this is not typical garnish, but it is delicious). This way, your guests can pick and choose at their leisure what flavors best work for them. If the soup is thick enough, you can try various combinations of the garnish as you slowly make your way down to the bottom of the bowl.

Drink

As Salmorejo is from Andalusia, I would suggest Sherry! As there is a wide variety of sherry ranging from dry to sweet, light to heavy in body and from dark and spicy to light and refreshing, I think it’s impossible not to find one that suits you. For more information on Sherry wines, go here.

Cheers,

Gabriella

Gabriella Opaz is co-founder of Catavino.net – a website dedicated to Spanish and Portuguese wine