A couple of Saturdays ago I spent my morning volunteering at my favorite local farm, Urban Roots. Austin's got a slew of totally awesome and active local farms, but Urban Roots is my favorite because of what they do in addition to farming. The farm's primary purpose is youth empowerment through farming. Local teens, mostly of low social economic status, can work as paid interns on the farm where they learn how to sustainably farm on top of developing leadership skills, working area farmer's markets and cooking for the public alongside local high profile chefs. And, of course, Urban Roots advocates accessibility to fresh and healthy food by donating 40% of their crops to local soup kitchens and pantries.
So yeah, I love Urban Roots and spent my morning volunteering with them. I was placed in a group of 10 or so volunteers, led by one of the youth interns. We spent three solid hours harvesting squash and zucchini and weeding cucumber plans. In that single morning over 1000 lbs of vegetables was harvested on the farm! There was so much produce that we were able to walk away with as many tomatoes, cucumbers and squash as we could possibly carry. Well, it turns out I can carry a lot!
So then the challenge was, what should I do with all this produce?! I had more bright red, fist-sized, plump 'n juicy tomatoes than I knew what to do with. Mulling this over while eating a couple sliced tomatoes with just a little salt, I came up with a plan. It's July in Austin meaning that it's HOT. What better to cool you off then cold tomato soup made from freshly picked tomatoes? Few things.
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When I studied abroad in Seville my host mother, Manoli, would make this AMAZING cold tomato soup called salmorejo. In the years since returning from Spain (it's been a while) I've daydreamed about this soup. Was it real? Could it have been as delicious as I remember? Was it really as simple to make as Manoli had described? I've talked about salmorejo with other friends who've been to Spain, and no one ever knows what I'm talking about. After a quick Google search (duh, Google has answers to everything!) for "salmorejo," it was confirmed that I wasn't going crazy... at least not over tomato soup.
So what is salmorejo you are probably thinking, and do I really just mean gazpacho? NO. Salmorejo is like the sexy older sister to gazpacho - smooth, creamy and you eat it with a spoon (that's right, gapzacho is supposed to be sipped, whaaaaaat?!?!). The ingredient that makes it thick is bread! I'm sure you are thinking "Blech! Gross soggy bread in cold tomato soup. Nothing could be more disgusting!" Trust me here.
While planning my cooking adventure with salmorejo I remembered Manoli saying that instead of using bread as the thickening agent of the soup, you could also use carrots. I did another quick Google search for "salmorejo without bread" and found a recipe that called for using zucchini as the thickening agent. PERFECT! I had carried as many zucchinis as I possibly could that morning and definitely had one to spare for my soup.
6 large ripe tomatoes, seeds removed
1 large zucchini
2 cloves garlic
1 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
salt to taste
sliced hard boiled eggs for garnish
Directions:
1. Slice your tomatoes in half and remove the seeds with a spoon.
2. Cut up your zucchini into 1/8's (They can be good sized chunks).
3. Add your tomato halves, zucchini and garlic to your blender. Blend on high until creamy. If you are making a full recipe, you will most likely have to do this in batches.
4. Pour into a large bowl. I used a glass bowl I could see the consistency throughout.
5. Add the red wine vinegar and olive oil to your mixture and stir until well combined.
6. Salt to taste.
7. Garnish with a few slices of hard boiled egg.
8. Devour.
Classic salmorejo is most often topped with jamon iberico. This is hard to come by so more convenient options are diced ham or crumbled bacon, if you want to add a little more protein to your soup.
Buen Provecho!
1. Slice your tomatoes in half and remove the seeds with a spoon.
2. Cut up your zucchini into 1/8's (They can be good sized chunks).
3. Add your tomato halves, zucchini and garlic to your blender. Blend on high until creamy. If you are making a full recipe, you will most likely have to do this in batches.
4. Pour into a large bowl. I used a glass bowl I could see the consistency throughout.
5. Add the red wine vinegar and olive oil to your mixture and stir until well combined.
6. Salt to taste.
7. Garnish with a few slices of hard boiled egg.
8. Devour.
Classic salmorejo is most often topped with jamon iberico. This is hard to come by so more convenient options are diced ham or crumbled bacon, if you want to add a little more protein to your soup.
Buen Provecho!
