Serves 4 to 5
Total time 50 min
I discovered salmorejo on my first trip to Andalusia and I have been making it on repeat ever since. It is the Andalusian relative of gazpacho, thicker and silkier, and I prefer it. It started as a mash of stale bread, garlic and oil, and only turned red once tomatoes arrived from the Americas. The official recipe from Córdoba has no vinegar in it. Mine does. I also add cilantro and a pinch of chilli, which is not traditional either, and I stand by both.
The amounts are made for a regular NutriBullet cup, which holds about 700ml. If you have a bigger blender, you can scale everything up.
Ingredients
Servespeople
Amounts updated, in the ingredients and in the steps. Cooking times, pan sizes and the size things are cut to stay the same.
- 2 large eggs
- 500g tomatoes
- 1 large garlic clove
- ¼ tsp chilli powder
- 2 to 4 sprigs fresh cilantro
- 1 tsp sherry vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- 60ml (¼ cup) olive oil
- 2 slices stale bread (about 60g)
To serve
- 2 large eggs
- 50g jamón or tuna
- 4 to 5 cherry tomatoes, optional
- A pinch of pepper or chilli
Equipment
- NutriBullet or blender
The Simple Process
- Prep: Boil all 4 eggs together, the 2 for the soup and the 2 for serving. Put them in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes, then move them to cold water until they are cool enough to peel, and peel them. Dice the tomatoes. Peel the garlic. Tear the bread into small pieces.
- First Blend: Put the tomatoes, garlic, chilli, cilantro, vinegar, salt and olive oil in the NutriBullet and blend until smooth. The tomatoes break down and free up space in the cup for the next round.
- Second Blend: Add 2 of the eggs and the bread, and blend again until thick, silky and pale coral. It is ready when it coats the back of a spoon. If it is not creamy enough, or it still tastes too much of raw tomato, add a little more olive oil and blend again. With a normal blender you can put everything in at once and blend once.
- Chill: Put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. It has to be properly cold, and the flavours need the time to come together.
- Serve: Stir it well, since it settles a little in the fridge, and pour it into bowls. Grate the 2 serving eggs over the top, or slice them, and add the jamón or tuna, a few cherry tomato slices if you like, and a pinch of pepper or chilli.
