Due to the hot climate, Spain has many recipes for chilled soups. Ajoblanco (or Ajo blanco) one is from the southern Andalucia and a great way to use up stale bread, and quite filling. It is more traditional to garnish it with grapes or melon, but I used some pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika) instead. The smokiness works very well with the soup, and the red color is a nice contrast. To give the soup more flavor, I lightly toasted the almonds, and used a relatively large amount of almonds. For a cheaper (and probably more traditional) version, use more bread and less almonds.
Ingredients
For 6 servings
250 grams (2 cups) blanched almonds
250 grams (9 oz) stale bread
750 ml (3 cups) cold water
1 clove garlic
sherry vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
salt
smoked paprika, for garnish, optional
white grapes, for garnish, optional
diced melon, for garnish, optional
Instructions
For more flavor, toast the almonds in the oven at 180C/350F…
…until they are lightly toasted, about 8 minutes. Allow the almonds to cool after toasting.
Meanwhile, remove the crust from the bread…
…and chop the bread.
Put the almonds in a powerful blender (I used a Vitamix) and cover them with cold water.
Blend until smooth.
Now add sherry vinegar to taste (I used about 1 tablespoon)…
…and extra virgin olive oil to taste (again about 1 tablespoon), as well as salt (about 1/2 teaspoon to start).
Add the bread as well, and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt, vinegar, and olive oil, if needed.
Chill the ajoblanco in the refrigerator until completely chilled, at least a couple of hours.
Serve in small portions (it is very filling), garnished with grapes, melon, or pimentón.
Flashback
Chicken skewers with peanut sauce are a Dutch/Indonesian dish that is very popular in the Netherlands under the name of chicken satay. For my version I make the sauce from scratch, which has great flavor.
Good Stuff 🙂
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I love Spanish food. 🙂
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I’ll have to try this. Hasn’t heard of it before! It looks yummy!!
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Good! Love cold soups and we are into our spring without having had a winter! Have made this often ‘without a name’ . . . . love the proportion of almonds . . . am surprised you in Holland produce ‘such’ bread to get semi-stale . . . like it so smooth . . . shall copy . . .
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In this case I bought this bread on purpose just for the soup, but usually I’d use stale leftovers of homemade bread.
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*smile* Just think very highly of Dutch cooking and this looks like the ‘awful’ white sliced ‘pap’ we can buy at our everyday supermarkets: thought the Dutch would make and buy more wholegrain, rye, black, sweet-sour, seeded etc . . . .should not say that: know that many in this world would be grateful . . . .
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It reads nice. It looks nice. Yet, when I look at all that white bread going in…..
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Non la conosco, ma dev’essere buonissima! Volevo chiederti se si può usare il pane avanzato, ma vedo che hai già risposto
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The Spanish use a lot of almonds to thicken and flavour, particularly in savoury recipes. We love Romesco sauce so I am certain we would love this refreshing dish. Toasting the almonds sounds like a great idea. We love smoked paprika, what a beautiful garnish.
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