StarterAI

Salmorejo Casero

Name: Salmorejo Casero
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 1000 g Ripe tomatoes; 150 g Stale white bread; 2 cloves Garlic cloves; 120 ml Extra-virgin olive oil; 20 ml Sherry vinegar; 8 g Fine sea salt; 2 large Eggs; 60 g Cooked ham

A thick, chilled Córdoban soup of blended tomato, bread, garlic and olive oil, topped with chopped hard-boiled egg and diced cured ham — thicker and richer than gazpacho, and meant to be eaten with a spoon rather than drunk from a glass.

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 0 min
Difficulty: Very easy

About this dish

Salmorejo and gazpacho are cousins, not versions of the same thing, and Córdoba is protective of the difference: salmorejo carries far more bread and no watery vegetables like cucumber or pepper, which is exactly what makes it thick enough to stand a spoon in rather than pour. The egg and ham on top aren't a modern garnish — they're what turn a cold soup into something substantial enough to be a whole plate on a hot Andalusian afternoon, adding the protein and salt that the blended vegetables alone don't provide.

Lactose-free
Not vegetarian because of Cooked ham
Contains gluten because of Stale white bread

Ingredients

4servings

1000gRipe tomatoes
150gStale white bread
2clovesGarlic cloves
120mlExtra-virgin olive oil
20mlSherry vinegar
8gFine sea salt
2largeEggs
60gCooked ham

Instructions

Roughly chop the tomatoes and blend them with the torn stale bread until the bread softens and breaks down into the mixture.
10 min
Tip: Use the ripest tomatoes you can find and don't peel or seed them — the skins add colour and the seeds blend in fine, and this soup has no cooking step later to hide a bland tomato.
Add the garlic, olive oil, sherry vinegar and salt, and blend at high speed until completely smooth and thick, drizzling in a little more oil if you want it silkier.
5 min
Tip: Blend far longer than feels necessary — a proper salmorejo is smooth enough that you shouldn't be able to identify a single ingredient by texture, and a minute is rarely enough to get there.
Chill thoroughly, at least an hour, before serving.
60 min
Tip: Serve it properly cold, not just room temperature — an unchilled salmorejo tastes flat and overly acidic, and the chill is doing real work here, not just a comfort detail.
Top each bowl with chopped hard-boiled egg and diced cured ham just before serving.
3 min
Tip: Add the egg and ham at the table, not ahead of time — they're meant to stay distinct on top rather than sink in, giving each spoonful a bit of both alongside the smooth soup underneath.