This simple and powerful sauce from one of my favourite cookbooks Moro East is so much more than the sum of its parts. If gazpacho and aioli had a baby, it would taste like this with its flavours of Mediterranean summer. Few ingredients and just a few minutes work combine to produce a silky and chilled tomato and garlic flavoured emulsion, like a loosely set – and vegan – mayo.
The similarities to the flavours of gazpacho aren’t accidental: traditionally a soup, Salmorejo is its close relative. But as a sauce it becomes incredibly versatile. One night we had it with Nigella’s courgette and feta fritters, a sweetcorn and tomato salsa and some olive oil roast potatoes. With the potatoes, it was like patatas bravas with aioli reimagined. By the next day, my partner was slathering it on toast and, on night two, it livened up falafel with some herby couscous. Sam and Sam Clark particularly recommend it with fish, chicken and aubergines. I could eat it with pretty much any summery veg or potatoes.
This doesn’t used shedloads of bread but, like many Spanish recipes, it uses it to tremendous effect. You could use new or old white bread (I used white sourdough but that was what I had that day). Stale is fine but it shouldn’t be rock hard. The recipe also demands some decent summer/autumn tomatoes – nothing fancy but they need to be red, ripe and taste of something. While you could add more garlic, be warned that a little raw garlic goes a very long way. Don’t feel the need to remove the tomato skins – they simply disappear once blitzed.
Ingredients
- 500g ripe summer tomatoes (skins included)
- 1 clove garlic
- 50g white bread that has had crusts removed
- 5 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar at a push)
Method
- Crush the garlic into a paste with a little salt and cut the tomatoes in half. Rip up the bread.
- Throw everything into a blender or food processer, or a bowl if you’re using a hand blender.
- Blitz well until everything is smooth and combined.
- Then – crucially – blitz again. As the mixture emulsifies, it should transform from a puree into a more silky sauce with some body in which it is possible to create ripples. Season with salt and pepper.
- Chill well in the fridge before serving.
Adapted from Moro East by Sam & Sam Clark
one million loaves 