Salmorejo means food in summer

I don’t know what’s going on with me lately. Mariana and Nachito are in Brazil visiting Mariana’s family, so that leaves me with plenty of free time. I finally got an epidural injection, so physically I’m feeling great. In the past I would have taken this time to code like crazy and get lots of things done, but things are going much slower than I was hoping. Maybe it’s the heat of the summer, or that now that my body feels fine, I need some time to enjoy it and relax.

Anyhow, today it’s time for some more food blogging, and now that we are in midst of the summer there’s nothing better than Salmorejo. As soon as the tomato season starts, this is something that I have for lunch or dinner almost every day. It’s easy to cook, it’s fast, it’s refreshing, and it’s filling.

Salmorejo is actually a different food depending on the region of Spain, but in Andalusia it’s a cold soup made of tomatoes, garlic, and bread; seasoned with salt, vinegar, and oil.

Good tomatoes are by far the most important ingredient and here in California these are not hard to find (ie. at farmer markets or at the local coop). I usually use a combination of regular and heirloom tomatoes, which I think give a nice twist to the flavor.

I was hoping to grow tomatoes in my backyard this summer, but my back problems prevented me from working on my vegetable garden, which grew out of control during the spring and now almost dried during the summer. I’m tidying it up now, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to harvest something by the end of the summer.

For the bread I recommend a hard bread that is a few days old. Ciabatta or a crusty sourdough baguette work best.

Preparation is as follows:

  • Take the piece of bread and submerge it in water for about 20 minutes until completely soft.
  • In the meantime dice the tomatoes and liquefy in a food processor or a blender. You should get about 6 cups. Then pass the tomatoes through a food mill to remove the skin and the seeds, and place aside. After that you should have about 5 cups of a fairly homogeneous tomato juice.
  • Now take some of the bread, squeeze it to remove some of the water, and add one cup to the food processor with two or three cloves of garlic.
  • Season the bread and garlic mixture with salt, vinegar and oil, and combine with the tomato juice. Pulse in the food processor a few times until well mixed together.

The Salmorejo can be eaten right away, but it tastes better after 24 hours. It’s typically served with Iberian Ham and boiled eggs. If I don’t have good ham available I usually substitute it with tuna, or you can also spread it over a slice of fresh bread and combine it with smoked salmon or pomfret.

5 Comments

  1. Ignacio, thanks for sharing, and glad to hear you are feeling better. Will definitely be trying Salmorejo once I get back to Madison’s local market this weekend. Except I’m sans blender or food processor, so I’m going to attempt a pre-electric age preparation…

  2. Ignacio, It’s good to have you back again. I hope you feel better for a longer time now.
    I Usually combine this gr8 soup with some hot pepper , I take a piece of a very thin piece of pastry , quick fry it in a pan with olive oil until it get to the right color :o ) , dip this inside the soup and eat like hell :o )

    Cheers

  3. Yo también me pongo jartito de salmorejo. Pero lo del atún me parece una barbaridad. Chiquito te puede castigar por ello… be careful…

  4. Saludos desde españa, no tengo ni idea de como he conseguido este blog, pero creo que ha sido gracias a the witness.

    Me he sorprendido de que realmente conozcas y aprecies el Salmorejo, que siendo yo de Andalucía, y específicamente de Huelva, conozco a la perfección.

    Un plato frio, que debe comerse preferiblemente en Verano, y que es una delicia para el paladar.

    La foto tiene una pinta espectacular, solo que el jamón siempre se sirve por encima del huevo, y el huevo rallado en laminas muy finas.

    Pero a quien diablos le importa… EXCELENTE!!!

    PD. Estamos muy interesados en más noticias acerca de The Witness, y te deseo la mejor de las suertes en este nuevo proyecto…

    Grettings from Spain.

  5. Salmorejo is awesome. This was my favourite Spanish recipe to make for friends when i lived in the US. Everybody loved it. Finding good serrano ham in the US is next to impossible so the best alternative, i think, is fatty tuna (ventresca) in thin slices. Regular tuna when you can’t find ventresca. Perhaps tiny little cubes of chopped onions too. Also i usually throw 1/4 a green pepper (not of the spicy variety!) and a 1/4 cucumber along with the tomato and bread and blend it all together.

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