Salmorejo

I spent the summer of 2004 living in Madrid, Spain. There are many things I love about Spain but one thing that tops all of the others is the food (and cheap wine!). While in Madrid, I lived with a woman named Lola who is probably one of the best cooks in the world. Culturally, eating in Spain is very different than the US. One, the timing: lunch at 2pm and dinner around 930 or 10pm. Second, the lunch is the largest meal of the day and the dinner is much smaller. Third, having a glass of wine is tradition. And fourth, Spaniards eat with their hands above the table at all times (something that I needed to be reminded of quite often).

Spaniards love their cold soups; gazpacho is also popular in the US and is a well-known Spanish soup. I do like gazpacho, but preferred Salmorejo, another cold tomato soup. The first time I was in Madrid I did not get the recipe from Lola, but luckily when I returned in 2008 she instructed me on how to cook this fantastic soup. I have since perfected the Salmorejo recipe.

Salmorejo is traditionally topped with green peppers, jamon seranno (or any ham will do), and hard boiled eggs. We didn't have those items, so this recipe is a slight variation:

Ingredients:
4-5 large tomatoes
1-2 garlic cloves
olive oil
vinegar
salt
1 baguette
avocado
red pepper
hard boiled eggs

Cut the tomatoes and 1/2 of a baguette into pieces. I do not peel the tomatoes, but if you prefer, you can peel them. Put a few tomato slices in the blender and mix together. Add the bread, garlic cloves, and the rest of the tomatoes gradually until they are all mixed together. This may be a bit difficult on your blender, so it may help to use the olive oil in order to make the mixture a little bit more liquid and therefore easier on the blender. Overall, I would say approximately 4 tablespoons of olive oil should be added, but I do this recipe by taste so I am not sure. Add salt to taste, and a splash of vinegar. The mixture should be a salmon color, feel free to add more tomatoes or bread to get the recipe to your taste. Serves 3-4 and takes approximately 30 minutes to make.

After the ingredients are mixed together, put in a bowl in the fridge and eat either later that day or the next (the flavors will become stronger on the second day, therefore, Salmorejo is often better the second day than the first!). We used the avocado, hard boiled egg, and red pepper as toppings on the soup, but you can use whatever you like best.