Gazpacho of lettuce, garden peas & chives

For ➍
2 onions
25 g butter
1 lettuce
450 g green peas (frozen)
75 cl water
1½ chicken stock tablet
25 g chives

Chop the onions. Heat the butter in a large pan and fry the onion 3 m. Remove the leaves of lettuce. Wash and dry them and cut into strips.
Put the peas, lettuce, water and stock cubes in the soup pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 m on low heat.
Keep some chives for garnish. Cut the rest of the chives.
Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the chives and puree in a blender. Season with pepper and salt.
Let the soup cool for 30 m to room temperature. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 3 h.
Garnish the soup with the  chives and serve with sliced cereals bread.

Salmorejo (Cordoba cold soup)

For ➍
500 g ripe tomatoes, skinned & chopped*
1-2 clove(s) garlic, chopped
50 g (4 slices) of dry white bread without crusts
4-6 tbs olive oil
2 tbs (sherry) vinegar
salt*
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and chopped

Crumble the bread in some water. When soft, squeeze until the water is gone. Put the tomatoes and the garlic in a blender. Liquidize until smooth by turning on and off the blender at low speed. Add a dash of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Add some bread and oil and mix again. Continue until all the bread is used. Chill for a few hours.
Serve with the chopped egg. (Add some chopped Serrano ham if wanted.)

*Use 0.5 l tomato juice instead. Omit the salt, if the juice is salted.

Salmorejo is the Cordoba variation of a classic Spanish cold soup, gazpacho.
Read more gazpacho recipes: gazpacho, white gazpacho , ajo blanco.
Read more cold soup recipes.

Ajo blanco (Malaga cold soup)

For ➍
200 g almonds
75 cl iced water
4-5 slices stale white bread with crusts removed, soaked in water
4 garlic cloves
1 ts salt
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs sherry vinegar
ground white pepper
grapes

Drop the almonds in cooking water, leave for a few m. Dry them and rub off their skin.

In a food processor, grind almonds as finely as possible. Add 10 cl of the water, then squeeze the bread and add to the almonds with the garlic.

With the machine running, add more water, the olive oil and the vinegar.

Chill for 5 h, and serve with halved, seedless white grapes.

A favourite of Malaga, this dish seems to date back to the Moorish times in Spain. It is related to gazpacho and the modern, less garlicky, versions of white gazpacho.

Salata Magribira (Moroccan cold salad)

For ➍
2 cucumbers
5 tomatoes
a handful of fresh coriander
1 lemon
1 tbs thyme
½ ts salt
½ ts pepper
3 tbs soy oil or soft olive oil

Split the cucumbers in half, remove seeds, and cube.

Peel the tomatoes and chop them.

Chop the coriander leaves and mix with the cucumbers and tomatoes.

Add the lemon juice, coriander, thyme and oil. Put in the fridge until ice-cold.

Serve with lukewarm bread.

This very refreshing salad has all the ingredients of a Spanish gazpacho, without being a soup.
Serve it as such, or with a slice of cold meat or chicken.

Gazpacho (Spanish cold soup)

For ➏
soup:
1 kg ripe tomatoes, skinned & chopped*
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded & chopped
1 small cucumber, peeled & chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbs olive oil
½ tbs vinegar
salt* & pepper
garnish:
1 small tomato
1½ cucumber, peeled
½ red or green bell pepper
½ small onion
1 hard boiled egg, shelled & chopped**

Liquidize all the soup vegetables, one after another, in the blender until smooth by turning on and off the blender at low speed. Add oil, a dash of vinegar and a pinch of salt and whizz quickly. If very thick, add some cold water, then chill well before serving. (A day's rest in the fridge will make it taste better.)

Chop all the remaining ingredients.

Serve in individual bowls with the gazpacho.

*Use 1 l of tomato juice instead. Omit the salt, if the juice is salted.
**Optional.

Read more gazpacho recipes: white gazpacho, Cordoba salmorejo, Malaga ajo blanco.
Read more cold soup recipes: hit label.

White gazpacho (Spanish cold soup)

For ➍
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded & roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
300 cl chicken or vegetable stock
200 cl sour cream*
1 ts coarse salt
50 cl freshly squeezed lemon juice **
50 g almonds, slivered walnuts
2 chopped hard-boiled eggs***
1 tbs of fresh parsley, chopped

Put cucumber, garlic and 125 cl of stock in a blender until smooth. (Do it in 2 servings). Transfer to a large bowl.
Whisk in the remaining stock and the sour cream, salt, and lemon juice(**).
Cover, and chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
Put some of the eggs and the almonds*** in a deep plate and pour over the gazpacho. Decorate with fresh parsley.
Serve with lukewarm olive oil sprinkled bread.****

*Replace with (half or completely) with yogurt for a lighter, less savoury dish.
**Replace 1 tbs with 1 tbs dry sherry.
***Optionally chop 2 tomatoes, skinned and peeled, for garnish.
****Or crumble some bread in the plate before piling on the ingredients.

This recipe was developed from a Malaga Arabian recipe, the ajo blanco.
Read more gazpacho recipes: Cordoba salmorejo, traditional gazpacho.