We had a beautiful tour of Spain in a 1963 yellow Cinquecento (which we call the old Betzy), and of that Spanish Christmas the flavor I carry in my heart is that of Salmorejo, eaten on a terrace in Granada under a sun that also screamed spring. if it was December.
A cold soup based on simple ingredients that couldn’t be more Mediterranean: bread, tomato, garlic and olive oil (not to be confused with Gazpacho). Good as I can’t tell you, served with hard-boiled eggs and crunchy raw ham, it is the Spanish dish par excellence. And this perfect recipe my dears comes from a Catalan native, our Guillem, beloved Spanish teacher…
Ingredients (for 5 people)
- 1 kg of ripe tomatoes for sauce
- 150 g of extra virgin olive oil
- 200 g of crustless white bread (possibly a few days old)
- 1 clove of garlic
- 4 eggs
- 1 slice of raw ham 2-3 mm high (alternatively, if you like, use speck)
Wash the tomatoes and cut them into quarters. Place them in the blender and blend until you obtain a smooth sauce. Pass it through a sieve carefully to obtain the sauce cleaned from seeds and skins.
In the meantime, cut the bread into cubes (without the crust) and place it in the tomato sauce for 10 minutes, to soften it well.
Add the crushed garlic without the core and the olive oil and blend everything again for a long time in the mixer, several times, until you obtain a very velvety orange sauce (taste it to find the right consistency, it must be soft and velvety and the bread should be felt only slightly). Place in the fridge for 3-4 hours to rest.
Just before serving, boil the eggs and chop them finely (I prefer it this way) or cut them into quarters. Cut the slice of raw ham (or speck, we really liked it) into very small cubes of about 2-3 mm on each side and put them in the oven for few minutes to make them crispy.
Serve the cold Salmorejo with hard-boiled eggs and crispy ham. And now sit down and eat it, spoonful after spoonful. Isn’t it incredibly good? fresh, tasty, truly a dish with summer inside…
