SALMOREJO—THE GAZPACHO ALTERNATIVE

 

Classic salmorejo, cold tomato cream soup, with chopped ham and egg, traditional summer dish of Córdoba.

Salmorejo originated in Córdoba, the inland province of Andalusia where temperatures yesterday hit 41ºC (106ºF). It is called sopa fria, cold soup, but might well be named “lifesaver,” the antidote to hot weather. The consistency of salmorejo is like a thick cream soup to be eaten with a spoon, whereas gazpacho, salmorejo’s next of kin, is thin enough to be sipped like a beverage. 

The word “salmorejo” may derive from the Roman “sal-moretum,” gruel of bread, salt, and garlic soaked in vinegar, or from “salmuera,” salt water brine. Confusingly, the name is used as well for dishes totally different from the well-known cold soup. In my pueblo (Mijas, Málaga), a salad of oranges, onions, olives, and salt-cod is called “salmorejo.” In my first years in Spain, I was so familiar with this dish that I was ever so puzzled to encounter a completely different salmorejo on my first visit to Córdoba. The word also refers to a Canary Island dish of meat or chicken in a briny marinade.

Salmorejo is simply tomatoes, bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and, optional, vinegar mashed to a thick cream. A close cousin of salmorejo is porra antequerana from the inland Málaga town of Antequera. Porra has a larger proportion of bread to tomatoes, making a thicker cream than salmorejo. Unlike either of them, gazpacho often has cucumber, green pepper, and onion right in the mixture. Made with less bread and sometimes thinned with water, gazpacho can be served in drinking glasses or bowls.  

In olden days, salmorejo and gazpacho were made in a mortar or wooden bowl, the ingredients mashed together with a pestle. In today’s kitchen, use a blender or food processor. 

Use juicy, ripe tomatoes and mix them with the pieces of bread so that the juices soften the bread. If you wish to peel the tomatoes (not necessary), use a vegetable peeler or knife. Don’t dunk them in boiling water. 

Summer garlic is freshly harvested so it doesn’t have a green germ that must be removed. Raw, one clove of garlic is enough. Use more if you like it really garlicky. Likewise, start with very little vinegar, 1 tablespoon. After blending, taste the mixture and add additional vinegar if desired. Extra tang is especially good when the salmorejo will have lots of toppings.

Day-old country-style bread with a dense crumb is best for making salmorejo, but any bread you have on hand can be used. Remove the crusts before processing because they do not soften easily and will leave lumps in the cream. 

Use your best extra virgin olive oil for making salmorejo. If you’re exploring varietal oils, try the Picual or Cornicabra oils. Picual is fruity and peppery; Cornicabra is smooth and aromatic. Hojiblanca, a variety widely grown in Málaga, is the perfect oil with porra antequerana. 

Classic salmorejo as made in Córdoba (recipe below) is topped with chopped ham and egg. Classic porra as made in Antequera is usually topped with chopped egg and chunks of (canned) tuna. But the smooth tomato cream is really a blank canvas just begging for some creative additions. Here are some ideas. However you serve salmorejo, be sure to finish it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Toppings and garnishes for salmorejo

1. Shrimp, chopped avocados, green peppers, red chile, scallions, and shredded lettuce.

2. Smoked mackerel or sardine fillets (canned), sliced hard-cooked egg, chopped toasted almonds, and broccoli sprouts. (Or, thinly sliced mojama, salt-cured tuna, instead of mackerel.)

3. Sliced egg, chopped green beans, chopped chives (vegetarian).

4. As a sauce with fried eggplant.

5. As a dip with endive leaves, carrot sticks, and bread sticks.

6. Chopped herbs such as mint, chives, basil, cilantro, or parsley.

7. Wakame (seaweed) salad and chopped scallions.

8. Chopped olives stuffed with anchovies, cherry tomatoes, and chopped parsley.

9. Chopped nectarines or mango and arugula leaves.

Classic topping of serrano ham and chopped egg. The white and yolk are separated and grated. One egg and 2 ounces (about 4 tablespoons) of ham are enough for four (1-cup) servings of salmorejo. 

Salmorejo with shrimp cocktail. Place shredded lettuce in cocktail cups. Add salmorejo. Top with small shrimp, chopped avocado, green pepper, red chile, and scallion that have been mixed with a little olive oil, salt, and lemon juice. Sprinkle with smoked pimentón picante (hot paprika).

Spread salmorejo on plates and top with strips of smoked mackerel, chopped almonds, a slice of egg, and sprouts.

Small bowls of salmorejo are topped with egg and cooked and sliced green beans, drizzled with additional oil.

In Córdoba, salmorejo is often served as a sauce to accompany fried eggplant slices. (Recipe below)

Classic Córdoba Salmorejo

Salmorejo a la Cordobesa

This recipe makes a mixture the consistency of a thick cream soup to be eaten with a spoon. For a thicker version that can be served as a dip with vegetable dippers, chips or breadsticks, use one more slice of bread. 

Serves 4 to 8.

2 pounds ripe tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1-2 cloves garlic

4 ounces bread (4 slices), crusts removed (to make 2 cups cubed)

1 - 1 ½ tablespoons Sherry vinegar

½ cup extra virgin olive oil + additional to finish

Toppings

Remove cores from the tomatoes. Peel them if desired. Cut them into chunks (makes about 4 cups cut-up tomatoes). Place the tomatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Add the garlic cut in half. Tear the bread into pieces or cut it into cubes and add to the tomatoes. Stir all together with a wooden spoon. Let set 30 minutes to draw out the juices of the tomatoes and soften the bread.

Add the vinegar to the tomatoes. Use a blender or food processor to puree the tomatoes and bread to a smooth cream. Blend in the oil in four additions. Chill the salmorejo.

Serve the salmorejo in shallow bowls with choice of toppings.  Drizzle with additional extra virgin olive oil.

Fried Eggplant

Berenjena Frita

Cut eggplant in 1/4-inch slices. Place them in a bowl and cover with salt water (or agua con gas (seltzer), milk or beer). Place a dish on top to keep the slices submerged. Soak 30 minutes or up to 3 hours. Drain well and pat dry.

Heat oil on medium-high in a large skillet to a depth of 1/4 inch. Dredge the eggplant slices in flour, pat off the excess, and fry them in oil, turning to brown on both sides. Drain on absorbent paper. Sprinkle with salt. Serve the eggplant hot or room temperature.

Salmorejo on the vine. 

ENOUGH GREEN PEPPERS

 

One-day's picking: frying peppers.

Green peppers to spare! Enough for gazpacho (only needs a small piece), for pipirrana chopped salad (maybe a couple of peppers), for stuffing (two or three per person). I’m picking a small basket of them every day or two, so it’s time to try some other favorite recipes.

We only planted one variety of pepper—Italian frying peppers. No bell peppers, no chiles. In Spain this pepper is an all-purpose variety, used for everything.

It’s a long, slim pepper, sometimes kinky; thin skinned, with crisp flesh, a bittersweet taste. Raw, frying peppers are chopped into salads such as pipirrana. They are the best pepper for sofrito, the sautéed mix of onion, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes that is the starting point for so many dishes in Spanish cooking, from paella to stew. Oh, yes, they are also used for frying.

The peppers are not fried crisp, but cooked in oil until they are completely tender, only lightly browned. Serve them hot or room temperature as a tapa, with bread to accompany. Use them as a side with grilled meat or fish. Heap them on a burger or make a serranito, a classic sandwich of pork loin, serrano ham, fried peppers, and alioli (garlic mayo). 

Fried peppers, tapa bar-style.

Classic serranito sandwich--fried peppers, pork loin, cured ham, and alioli.

Fried Green Peppers

Pimientos Fritos

Fry peppers in one layer.

You only need about ½ inch of oil in a large skillet. Heat the oil very hot, then reduce the heat. Place the peppers in a single layer in the skillet. If hot oil tends to splatter as peppers release their water, partially cover the pan. Fry the peppers until they are limp and the skins wrinkled and very lightly browned, 20 to 30 minutes. Repeat with additional batches. The peppers can be served hot, room temperature or cold. They can be packed in sealed bags and frozen.

To eat the peppers, tapa bar-style, hold a pepper by the stem and lower it into your mouth. Bite off the pepper; discard the stem and seeds. 

12 peppers

Olive oil for frying

Flaky salt

Wash and dry the peppers. Leave them whole, but cut a slit in their tips. Heat oil to a depth of ½ inch in a large skillet. Place peppers in the oil in a single layer and lower the heat to medium. If hot oil splatters, partially cover the pan. Fry the peppers slowly until wrinkly and beginning to brown, then turn them and fry the reverse side. Fry the peppers until completely limp, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Continue frying remaining peppers. Sprinkle them while hot with salt.

Serranito Sandwich

Bocata de Serranito

Fried green peppers add a special touch to this sandwich with pork loin and ham. Sliced tomato is optional. 

Use a crusty sandwich roll (bollo) or a section of baguette for the serranito. Split it open and toast the halves in a toaster or on a plancha. Spread with alioli (garlic mayonnaise), plain mayo or olive oil with crushed garlic. 

Remove stem and seeds from the fried peppers before adding to the sandwich. If desired, the peppers can be skinned as well. 

Makes 1 sandwich

1-2 thin slices boneless pork loin

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

Crusty sandwich roll (bollo), toasted

Alioli or mayonnaise

2-3 fried green peppers

Thinly sliced serrano or ibérico ham

Slices tomato (optional)

Alioli or mayo from a squeeze bottle on toasted roll.

Sprinkle the sliced pork loin with salt and pepper. Cook them quickly on a lightly oiled plancha or skillet until lightly browned. Remove.

Split the sandwich roll in half. Spread with alioli or mayonnaise. Put the pork loin slices on the bottom half. Remove stems and seeds from the peppers and heap them on top of the pork. Add sliced ham and tomato, if using. Cover with the other half of the roll. Place the sandwich on a cutting board and slice it in half.

More peppers to come!

More ways to use green peppers:

Chopped Tomato, Pepper and Tuna Salad (Pipirrana de Jaén)

Piperade (Piparrada). (Make the piperade with all green frying peppers)

Mussels with Chopped Pepper Vinaigrette.

Peppers Stuffed With Tuna.

Fried Padrón Peppers.

GARDEN, MORE

 

Individually sized, about 8 ounces each.

The little garden just keeps coming. Now it’s eggplant. My go-to dish for using eggplant is pisto, a summer vegetable stew (recipe for pisto is here ). But these eggplants are so perfectly sized, I can’t resist stuffing them. 

This stuffing is with meat, which could be ground beef, pork, lamb, chicken or a combination of any of them. For a vegetarian version, substitute well-drained cooked lentils for the ground meat.  

Pre-cook the eggplant shells in the microwave. Finish the stuffed shells under the broiler.

Serve the stuffed eggplants hot, room temperature or chilled.

Stuffed Eggplants

Berenjenas Rellenas

You can cook the eggplants in a microwave (about 4 minutes) or bake them in a 350ºF oven until soft, about 30 minutes. That can be done in advance. You need a simple béchamel sauce to nap the eggplants. That, too, can be made in advance. Once stuffed and ready, the eggplants need only 5 to 10 minutes under the broiler to gratin the tops. 

Use any ground meat--beef, pork, lamb, chicken or a combination of two of them. The grated zucchini is optional; it helps keep the stuffing mixture moist (and uses up a surplus of garden zucchini).

Score the eggplant and microwave.

Serves 8 as a starter or 4 as a main dish.

4 eggplants, each about 8 ounces

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 pound ground meat

½ cup grated zucchini (optional)

¼ cup white wine

1 cup grated tomato pulp (2 medium tomatoes)

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Béchamel sauce (recipe follows)

Thinly sliced tomato

½ cup grated cheese

Basil sprigs to garnish

Remove the calyx (spiny leaves) from the eggplants, leaving the stem. Cut them in half lengthwise, cutting through the stem. Place them cut-side down on a plate and cover them with plastic wrap. Microwave on High for 4 minutes. Leave the eggplants in the microwave a few minutes more. They should be soft when tested with a skewer. Remove and let them drain cut-side down in a colander. Repeat with remaining eggplants. 

Scoop out flesh with a spoon.

When eggplants are cool enough to handle, use a spoon or melon ball cutter to scoop out the flesh, leaving a shell. Chop the flesh and set aside. Leave the shells in a colander to drain.

Heat the oil in a skillet and sauté the onions and garlics until softened. Add the ground meat and fry until it loses its pink color. Add the grated zucchini, if using, and the chopped eggplant. Cook 2 minutes. Add the wine and tomato pulp. Season with salt, pepper, and chopped basil. Cook 20 minutes until all the liquid is cooked away. Stir in the parsley.

Spread béchamel over stuffing, top with cheese.

Place the eggplant shells in a single layer on a lightly oiled sheet pan. Spoon the meat filling into the shells and press it down firmly. Spread a layer of béchamel sauce on top of the eggplants. Press a tomato slice into each of them. Cover the eggplants with grated cheese.

Preheat broiler (gratin/grill) to 450ºF.

Place the eggplants under the broiler until the béchamel is bubbly and cheese lightly browned. Serve hot or room temperature. Garnish the eggplant with sprigs of basil.

Olive Oil Béchamel Sauce 

Salsa Bechamel

Use this easy sauce to nap the stuffed eggplants or any food that you intend to gratin. 

The sauce can be made in advance of the stuffed eggplants. Cover the surface of the sauce with plastic film so it doesn’t form a crust. If necessary, heat it 30 seconds in a microwave to loosen the sauce enough to spread easily.

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup flour

¼ teaspoon smoked pimentón (paprika)

1 ½ cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook it, stirring, on low for 2 minutes. Stir in the pimentón. Whisk in the milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth and thickened, 5 minutes. Season with salt. 

More ways to stuff an eggplant:

Meat-Stuffed Eggplant with Roasted Tomato Sauce.

Eggplants Stuffed with Cheese (vegetarian).

Turkish Style Eggplant Stuffed with Lamb.

And, Bell Peppers Stuffed with Eggplant (microwave).