Salmorejo

Name: Salmorejo: Andalusian Cold Tomato and Bread Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Spanish cuisine
Ingredients: Ripe tomatoes 1 kg; Fresh white bread 250 g (half a loaf); Garlic 1 clove; Extra virgin olive oil 100–150 ml; Salt a pinch; Wine or balsamic vinegar 0.5-1 tsp, optional; Hard-boiled egg 1; Jamón 1-2 slices

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30 mins

Spaniards are true masters of cold vegetable soups, and the imagination and variety of their recipes know no bounds. Salmorejo is a remarkable cold soup of pureed tomatoes and bread, with the best olive oil, garlic and, sometimes, a little vinegar. It is a signature dish of Córdoba in Andalusia.

Raw tomatoes pressed through a sieve, with white bread soaked in the puree: that is the essence of salmorejo. It is usually served with jamón and hard-boiled eggs. Sometimes, though rarely, green pepper is added. This cold soup is somewhat similar to gazpacho , the light, ice-cold Spanish soup of pureed tomatoes and vegetables.

The main difference between the two is consistency and thickness. Gazpacho is a fairly thin, refreshing soup, while salmorejo is closer to a thick sauce or puree: thanks to the bread and olive oil, the texture resembles mayonnaise, and the soup barely pours out of its container. Interestingly, tomatoes only reached the European diet in the 17th century, and the first recipes for tomato puree with bread were sauces.

Even the ripest tomatoes do not always have red flesh, so most often the cold soup ends up pink or orange. The olive oil adds yellow to the shade too: when whipped, it blends with the tomato puree and makes it thick, like an emulsion. By the way, this texture means the soup can also serve as a dip for chips, which is very tasty.

Cold salmorejo is traditionally served in glasses or small teardrop-shaped bowls, topped with jamón and crumbled egg.

The key ingredient of salmorejo is bread. Without it you cannot get the creamy texture. Bread features in many dishes of world cuisines. For example, in the unique Tuscan salad panzanella , pieces of bread soak up the liquid from the vegetables, which is essential. Fried pieces of bread are croutons, which appear in many French recipes and go wonderfully with pea soup.

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Ingredients

2 servings

For the soup
Ripe tomatoes 1 kg
Fresh white bread 250 g (half a loaf)
Garlic 1 clove
Extra virgin olive oil 100–150 ml
Salt a pinch
Wine or balsamic vinegar 0.5-1 tsp, optional
For serving
Hard-boiled egg 1
Jamón 1-2 slices

Step-by-step recipe

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Bread and egg

You will need half a loaf of soft white bread. Many recipes suggest drying or toasting the bread, but I prefer fresh bread: it gives a more uniform texture. Also, take the best extra virgin olive oil you can find.
Hard-boil the egg ahead of time (about 10 mins after the water boils), cool it and peel it.
Prepare the bread: cut the crust off with a knife. Bread is often used with the crust, but I prefer to cut it off, then dry it and grind it into breadcrumbs. Cut the fresh white bread into large cubes. The size of the cubes doesn’t matter much, although smaller cubes soak up the tomato puree faster, which makes the salmorejo more uniform.

Tomato puree

For salmorejo you can use red, pink or dark tomatoes, but they must be ripe, juicy and soft. It is also best if the flesh has no white streaks. Since the tomato puree is not cooked, make sure there are no rotten or spoiled tomatoes. Ideally, the tomatoes are picked from the garden just minutes before cooking.
Of course, you can scald the tomatoes with boiling water, cool them under running water, peel them and remove the seeds, then puree the flesh with a blender. There is a simpler and more accessible way, and it seems everyone prefers it.
Cut each tomato in half and use a knife to remove the “growth zone”, the white central core, along with any other white areas. Keep the seeds and skin.
Make the puree: use an ordinary blender or chopper to grind the tomatoes into a puree, without worrying about the bits of seeds and skin. Press the puree through a sieve or a mesh colander. The whole process of making the tomato puree takes just a few minutes.

Soup

Soak the bread in the tomato: pour the tomato puree into a large bowl or pot. Add all the prepared white bread and stir with a spoon. Leave for up to 10 mins so the bread absorbs the puree and soaks through. It helps to stir the tomato and bread once or twice. By the way, if you put the container in the fridge right away, you can cut the total chilling time.
Peel a clove of garlic and slice it into the tomato and bread. Season everything with a pinch of salt.
If the tomatoes are not acidic enough and taste rather sweet, you can add 0.5-1 tsp of wine or balsamic vinegar.
Blend the soup: transfer the mixture to a blender and blend thoroughly until smooth. While continuing to blend, add the olive oil in small portions. The amount of oil depends on the situation, usually 100–150 ml. The soup should start to thicken and look like an emulsion.
Pour the finished salmorejo into a pitcher or suitable container and put it in the fridge. The soup should be cold.

Serving

Meanwhile, chop the peeled hard-boiled egg with a knife. For serving you can use only the white or a mix of yolk and white, as you like. Cut the thinly sliced jamón into small pieces, squares or strips.
Pour the chilled salmorejo into small plates, or better still, oblong, oval or teardrop-shaped bowls set on a flat plate. The soup is very thick and does not spread. Put 1 tsp of chopped egg and some jamón on each portion. The soup is easy to eat with a small long-handled spoon.
Fresh bread or toasted croutons go very well with tomato.

Calories and macros

870 kcal

Serving ≈ 680 g

Protein16 g7% of kcal
Fat55 g58% of kcal
Carbs73 g34% of kcal

100 g128 kcalProtein 2.3 gFat 8.1 gCarbs 10.7 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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