Smoked tomato salmorejo recipe

Typically, a bright and refreshing cold soup made from raw tomatoes, bread, garlic and vinegar, salmorejo hails from Southern Spain. But at BABA we do things a little differently… We’ve taken inspiration from this traditional soup and created a smoky, rich sauce that currently accompanies our beef, lamb and bone marrow kofte, although you could pair it with plenty of other types of meat or fish.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 500ml

400g plum tomatoes
30g garlic
125g extra virgin olive oil
50g smoked almonds
30g cabernet sauvignon vinegar
6g salt
65g day-old pitta

METHOD

1. The secret to the smoky taste in our sauce is the chargrill, but you could you a standard grill or barbecue. Begin by taking your plum tomatoes and charring them until the skins are almost completely black.

2. While your tomatoes are grilling, prepare your garlic, by simply breaking apart the heads into cloves. You’ll need to confit the garlic, which is essentially slowly cooking it in oil. Once you have your individual cloves, transfer to a roasting tin and cover with rapeseed oil. Roast for 45 minutes at 200°C, until completely soft.

3. Once the skins on the tomatoes are black, remove them from direct heat and transfer to a baking tray. Roast until the tomatoes are almost falling apart, then cool until they reach room temperate.

4. To a blender, add the cooled tomatoes and garlic, olive oil, smoked almonds, pitta bread and salt. There’s no need to use pitta though – any type of wheat-based bread would work well here, but just ensure it is stale bread from the day before, as it’ll combine best with the sauce. Blend until almost smooth – around two minutes.

5. For a wee bit of extra flavor, stir the cabernet sauvignon vinegar into your blended sauce, and season to taste.

6. Use straight away or store in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days.