Summer soups

The summer is nearly here and a great soup can be a complete meal  for a summer evening. Something refreshing that rehydrates and gives us an essential vitamin injection. I this post we´ll have a look at some classic cold soups, including gazpacho and vichyssoise.

Gazpacho: A Culinary History

Like a lot of exquisite dishes, gazpacho was originally the food of the poor. It was a dish that agricultural workers in southern Spain made for lunch when they were working in the fields.(campos) They soaked (ponían en remojo) stale bread (pan duro) in water and pounded (machacado) it with olive oil, garlic, salt and vinegar. Some historians say it was a dish that Roman soldiers prepared when they were travelling through (a través de) the province. It was certainly an important dish in Moorish Spain (la España árabe). The defining ingredient of modern gazpacho, the tomato, only arrived after the conquest of the Americas in the fifteenth century.

Gazpacho Variations

There are several variations of gazpacho that are served in different parts of Spain. In Extremadura they add pieces of ham to make gazpacho extremeño. Salmorejo cordobés, from Cordoba, is a thicker (más espesa) soup served with pieces of hard-boiled eggs (trozos de huevo duro) and ham (jamón). You can change the flavour of the classic gazpacho by modifying the quantity of each of the vegetables or changing the type of vinegar. You could also serve it with different accompaniments, for example pieces of salt cod.(bacalao salado )

Ajo Blanco

A cousin of gazpacho is this dish that is close to the original Moorish way of preparing soup. It is based on the almonds (almendras) that the Moors cultivated extensively after they colonized Hispania in the eighth century. To make ajo blanco, soak blanched almonds in milk and soak some bread in water. Blend (meclar) with olive oil, garlic and salt, and then add water and some vinegar. You can add some grapes or pieces of apple or melon before serving.

Vichyssoise

Another great summer soup is vichyssoise. This is an adaptation of a traditional French soup by chef Louis Diat at the Ritz in New York in 1917. He named it after the French town of Vichy, close to (cerca de) where he was born. You make the soup by frying (freir) leeks (puerro) and onions in butter,(mantequilla) then adding (añadir) potatoes and stock (caldo) and simmering (hervir a fuego lento) for half an hour. Blend and add cream (nata líquida) and salt and pepper.

To finish the post, here you have a very useful recipe of the traditional Andalusian Salmorejo to cool you down in these hot summer nights.