Salmorejo (Creamy Tomato Soup)

Tomato, olive oil, sherry vinegar, day old bread, garlic and apple. 

Summer in Andalucia is like living inside a vocano, yeap, the roads melt, the streets are deserted, the dogs dig holes in the dirt to find some relief in the damp ground, the people leave their homes to camp at the beach, and the hotels, lower their prices. Lower the prices?? It is summer, it is peak season for most of Europe? As I was once told by a hotel concierge: " Ma'am, have you ever been in Sevilla during the summer?  Not even us (Sevillanos) want to live here, and he was right, high 80's to low 100's° F with sunrise around 7 am and sunset almost at 10 pm!  Yes, you want to be near water or living in a cave.

A great way to beat the heat is to eat cold food.  Lots of salads, some of them liquid, like Gazpacho and cold soups, such as ajo blanco and salmorejo.  Everyone has their own version of Gazpacho which is not fattening like salmorejo, which is made with bread and olive oil.  But I absolutely loathe cucumber, in Gazpacho, so for me, Salmorejo is the King of cold soups. 

Peel the tomatoes if you like.

Put all the ingredients in the blender

Cold creamy tomato soup. Delicious! 

just garnish with egg and ham

SALMOREJO:

Ingredients:

6 Ripe plum tomatoes
1 garlic clove peeled
1/8 day old baguette (crusty bread) or one or two hands full of any old bread
1/4 granny smith apple, peeled
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Salt/pepper to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Sherry vinegar (if not, then apple vinegar)

For the Garnish:
2 Hardboiled eggs chopped in little pieces
1 tablespoon of Spanish ham, prosciutto or bacon bits (last resort)
a splash of EVOO
If vegetarian, you may want to replace the ham for the little chopped sun dried tomatoes (optional)

Preparation:
Place the eggs in a small sauce pan, cover them with cold water.  Place the pan on the stove and heat until it begins to boil. Turn it off and cover.  Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 13 min. Remove and run through cold water and peel the eggs. Set them aside.

For the soup:
Peel the tomatoes, it make the soup really smooth, but you don't have to. I bought this great tomato peeler, so I use it every chance I get.  It is easier than blanching the tomatoes in hot water to peel them. Quarter the tomatoes, add them to the blender.  Add all the other ingredients except the garnish to the blender as well. Blend until creamy, add the salt and pepper to taste, blend again and correct the taste if you have to, and maybe the acidity with the vinegar. Serve the soup in two bowls and garnish with chopped hard boiled egg and ham bits.
Serves two. Enjoy.

Notes:
Most salmorejo recipes don't include the apple, this is a nice touch because it balances out the acidity in the soup.
If the bread is too old and hard, soak it in water and then squeeze the excess out and use it in the recipe.
Depending on the tomato's water content you may have to add a little water to the soup to get the right consistency or even more oil.
Sherry vinegar is the vinegar typical of the area, it is more acid than regular vinegar, so if using apple vinegar you may have to use a bit more.

Salmorejo with egg garnish and olive oil

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Lets drink Mosto and eat garlic soup

There is a saying:

“Por San Andres el mosto vino es” -  by Saint Andrew’s (Nov 30), Mosto turns into wine.  

During the months of November/December, if you drive around the countryside by the small vineyards in the Jerez and Sanlucar, you will encounter a small country restaurant with a red flag by their doors.  This means that mosto is ready.  Mosto, is the new wine, and it is a most anticipated event.  It happens quietly when the cold weather arrives.  If the season is unusually warm, the mosto season will be late, but when the cold arrives, you can delight yourself with the sampling of this new wine. 

This is Tio Pepe Sherry in diapers.

And where there is good wine, there is good food.  Nothing fancy, something like a hearty soup made with garlic and day old bread called, "ajo caliente", or another dish with tomato and bread soup, called "sopa de tomate" ,to accompany the wine.  

Groups of people visit these places during lunch.  Some are very popular, and others are somewhat hidden and hard to find places.  The very first time you visit one of these places, you may need a local to recommend, or take you to their favorite mosto spot.  Now, If you are feeling adventurous you can just drive around and find those red flag markers.  However, not all places are in the countryside.  The cities/towns have bars that sell mosto and will also display a flag or a sign that says: “Hay Mosto”.  The groceries stores carry a bottled mosto, but this is grape juice, check the label, there is no alcohol, this is the wrong kind.  Mosto can have up to 12% of alcohol, even if it doesn’t taste like it, it is very refreshing.

The finished dish, always served with a radish and some pepper garnish.

 Ajo Caliente is actually really healthy, and cheap to make.  It has raw garlic and peppers which are good for colds, with extra virgin olive oil, and raw radishes.  You can't go wrong with this combo, well except for the amount of bread…  You may have to get used to the texture, if you like mushy things then you will like this.  My kids hated it, but I loved it.  One word of advice, make only what you are eating at that moment, this does not store or reheat well, it turns into a sticky mess, and, unless you like eating glue ...

Fresh vegetables all full of cold fighting vitamins

Day old bread for thickening the "soup"

For the Spanish recipe version go to my friend Pilar's cooking blog, together we learned how to make Ajo Caliente:

Recipe for the Garlic soup, Ajo Caliente:

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 1 pound ripe tomatoes coarsely chopped/pureed, skins off
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 2 green peppers thinly diced
• salt
• 250 grams of day old bread cubed
• 1 liter of boiling water
• 200 mil of extra virgin olive oil
• Roasted red peppers 
• 4 whole peeled radishes

Preparation

1. Mash the garlic, salt, in a Lebrillo or giant clay mortar.  If not, you can use a medium bowl, preferably wooden.  
2. Now add the chopped green peppers, coarsely chopped tomato.  Mush well.
3. Add the bread and oil, and some boiling water and cover with a lid.  You might not use all the water, that’s ok.  The water will help soften the bread.  
4. Uncover after a few minutes, the bread will have absorbed all the water and it is ready to be pounded.  
5. With the pestle or wooden spoon, incorporate all ingredients as if using a giant mortar, help yourself with more boiling water which is added slowly until desired consistency.  Stop pounding the mixture when you have reached the consistency of Guacamole or thick puree rather than a soup.  
6. Cover it with plastic film, and let it rest for 5 minutes.  
7. Serve in bowls and garnish with strips of red roasted peppers and radish. 

Enjoy.

Lebrillo works like a mortar and it is necessary for traditional Ajo Caliente soup

Garlic, peppers, tomato and homemade roasted red bell peppers.

To peel whole tomatoes you have to "x" them
and then boil them for a few minutes

All ingredients end up in the Lebrillo, add hot water, then pound to a pulp

Experts tasting the ajo caliente

Here we are, from left to right: myself, Lupe, Katiana, Pilar and Stephanie.  Cheers to our teacher Lupe!

I have never bought a lebrillo, but I am told that you can find it anywhere in Rota, and in traditional craft markets around the area.  They have lebrillos of different sizes.  Thery are not too expensive, I have seen them in the market for about 8€ to 15€, depending on the size.  Even if you don't use it, it make a great decoration piece.

Look at this meal!

To our health and yours, cheers!