Salmorejo Cordobés (Chilled Tomato and Bread Cream)

Ingredients

• 1 kg tomato, very ripe, quartered
• 200 g baguette, day-old, crusts removed and torn
• 1 garlic, peeled and green germ removed
• 1½ dl olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 80 g ham, cut into short strips
• 2 egg
• black pepper to taste

Method

1. 1.

   Soak the bread in tomato — Put the quartered tomatoes and the salt in a blender and blitz for a full minute until completely liquid. Push the torn bread down under the purée and leave it to soften for 30 minutes — this soak is what makes salmorejo dense rather than watery.

2. 2.

   Emulsify with the oil — Add the garlic and the vinegar and blend on high for two full minutes until absolutely smooth. With the motor still running, pour the olive oil in a slow steady thread; the salmorejo pales to a matt salmon-orange and thickens to the texture of double cream.

3. 3.

   Sieve and refrigerate — Pass it through a fine sieve if you want it silkier still, then taste: it should be firmly salted and just sharp enough to prickle. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours — lukewarm salmorejo tastes of nothing.

4. 4.

   Hard-boil the eggs — Meanwhile lower the eggs into boiling water and cook for 9 minutes, then cool them under cold running water, peel and chop them roughly.

5. 5.

   Top with egg and ham — Ladle the cold salmorejo into shallow bowls, scatter over the chopped egg and the ham, crack black pepper on top and finish each bowl with a thread of olive oil.