Salmorejo is an Andalusian soup, similar to gazpacho. Salmorejo originates in Córdoba, but I had this soup in Seville, sitting at a table on a cute square, finally in the shade after a long time of trying to find a nice restaurant in the mid-day September heat. Thinking about the soup, I'm immediately back at that table in my mind...
Like gazpacho, salmorejo is based on tomatoes and eaten cold, but salmorejo is much thicker and more filling than gazpacho and because it contains less vinegar or even no vinegar at all, it is less sharp-tasting.
Recipes for salmorejo on the web seem to disagree on which ingredients are necessary, but a good approximation to what I had in Spain seems to be the following (for four persons):
- 500 g ripe tomatoes, peeled
- 250 g day-old bread without crust
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 125 ml olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- red wine vinegar to taste
- salt
- another hard-boiled egg and 100-200 g serrano ham, to garnish
Soak the bread in water, then press out the water so the bread isn't completely soggy anymore. Put the bread, tomatoes (with or without seeds, whichever you prefer), eggs, garlic and oil in a blender and blend for a few minutes until the mixture is smooth. Taste. Add a bit of vinegar and salt, to taste. You can dilute the soup with some ice water if you like, but it really should be fairly thick.
To serve, put the salmorejo in bowls and put some grated egg and very finely cubed ham on top. Alternatively, you could put the ham and egg in separate bowls so everyone can add them as they like. Enjoy!