This is a rich, thick and creamy
chilled bread soup made without water, which relies on the juice from lots of
skinned fresh tomatoes.
Most people top the cold soup with
hard boiled egg and cured Spanish ham, which I would definitely recommend!
Salmorejo is typically found in Córdoba,
but is enjoyed throughout Spain.
Taken from José Pizarro’s SpanishFlavours: Stunning Dishes Inspired by the Regional Ingredients of Spain,
published by Kyle Books and available from Kyle Books and Amazon.
Ingredients:
340g slightly stale white
country-style bread, crusts removed (225g crustless weight)
1kg ripe and juicy vine-ripened
tomatoes, skinned
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch of sugar (if your tomatoes
are not sweet)
150ml good quality olive oil,
plus one tablespoon and extra to serve
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 large free range eggs
6-8 thin slices ham
50g good quality green or black
pitted olives, quartered lengthways
Sea salt
Preparation:
Break the bread into a bowl and
sprinkle with 250ml water. Leave to soak
for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile quarter the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds
into a sieve set over another bowl.
Roughly chop the flesh and rub the juices from the seeds through the
sieve. Discard the seeds.
Put the tomato flesh and juices
into a liquidiser with the garlic and sugar (if using) and blend until
smooth. Squeeze as much water as you can
from the bread. Add the bread to the
liquidiser and blend once more. Then,
with the motor still running, gradually pour in 150ml of the oil, the vinegar
and 1½ teaspoons of salt. The mixture
should be thick but not stiff. Pour into
a bowl, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.
Chill 4 small soup bowls.
Shortly before serving, lower the
eggs into a pan of boiling water and cook for 9 minutes. Drain, cover with cold water and, when they
are cold, peel off the shells. Chop both
eggs roughly into small pieces.
Heat the remaining tablespoon of
oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Add 2 slices of ham side by side and fry or about 30 seconds on each
side until crisp and lightly golden.
Lift onto kitchen paper to drain and cool. Repeat with the remaining ham. Once it is cold, crumble into small pieces.
To serve, spoon the soup into the
chilled bowls and garnish with the chopped egg, crisp ham and olives. Drizzle over a little more olive oil and
serve straight away while it is still cold.
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