Salmorejo (Spanish Cold Tomato Soup)

This traditional chilled tomato soup from Cordoba in Andalusia, Spain, needs just 5 ingredients, and is ready in 5 minutes. Top with hard boiled egg and ham to make it into a complete meal.

📝 Ingredients

• 1 kg vine ripened tomatoes (roughly chopped)
• 200 g rustic white bread (cut into cubes)
• 1 garlic clove (peeled)
• 1 tsp sherry vinegar
• 4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• salt (to taste)
• 2 hard boiled eggs (peeled and chopped)
• 4 slices Serrano Ham (or other air dried ham)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Mix & Blend - Blend the tomatoes, bread, garlic, and vinegar with about 120ml of water until you have a smooth, thick puree. You can use a stick blender to do this. If you think that your stick blender is not powerful enough then layer all the ingredients into the bowl and leave for half an hour for the bread to soften. You may need to add a little more water depending on the ripeness of the tomatoes. Blitz really well at this stage until smooth
2. 2Add the oil - Slowly drizzle in the olive oil into the tomato mix and slowly blend it in. As the oil emulsifies with the soup it will turn a deep salmon pink, and develop an almost creamy texture. Over blending at this stage will bruise the olive oil and make it taste bitter, so blend it in slowly.
3. 3Chill - Cover, and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. The flavour will develop with time so if you can, leave it for a couple of hours.
4. 4Garnish & Serve - Serve with a garnish of chopped boiled eggs, Serrano ham and an extra drizzle of olive oil.