Salmorejo

Salmorejo can be eaten either as a cold thick soup or as a dip. It’s based on tomato and bread that are mixed together in a mortar and pestle and originates from Cordoba in Andalusia.
This is a popular traditional dish that can be found on many menus across Spain, especially in the hot summer months.

Salmorejo would have been a poor man's dish, made with the few ingredients available from their vegetable plot. Nowadays it’s a popular and very healthy dish often found in bars as tapas or rations – raciones.

It is made from produce that would have been in the kitchen tomatoes, red and/or green peppers and garlic also vinegar, olive oil and stale bread. It's served cold and garnished with diced Spanish Serrano ham or jamon and chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Every chef has their own secret recipe, each sample is a delight with suprises like bits of sweet orange in some versions.

You can also use it as a sauce for fish or chicken and it's great for dipping battered and deep-fried aubergines in.

Salmorejo

Ingredients

Virgin Olive Oil
Red Tomatoes
Green and/or Red Pepper
Stale bread crumbs ( added according to the consistency required)
Wine Vinegar (Jerez is the best)
Cold water ( again add to achieve the required consistency)
1 or 2 cloves garlic
Salt and Pepper

Preparation

Soak the bread in cold water.
Using a food processor or, as traditionally, a mortar and pestle grind the garlic, the salt and the green and red pepper to a fairly fine paste.

Add four or five tomatoes (for four people) and mix well to a paste,
add the damp bread, having squeezed out the excess water, and mix well until it’s a smooth paste.
Slowly add half a glass of olive oil and mix until you have an smooth paste, but which is getting runnier.
Now add a splash of vinegar to taste, and mix in well.
Season with salt and pepper, and check the seasoning, adjust accordingly.
Serve chilled and top with chopped hard-boiled egg and finely diced jamon or crispy bacon.

For more Spanish recipes see Andalucia Gastronomy.