In restaurant after restaurant we asked for it, unashamedly.
And in restaurant after restaurant, we got the same response:
“No es la temporada.”
(It’s not the season.)
We were a pair of demanding young Londoners and we were used to getting our way. Whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it.
The previous summer, we’d been introduced to salmorejo* and we were after it again. We had yet to understand that the Spanish still respect seasonality enough to make salmorejo only when tomatoes are in season and at their ripest.
Now, in January, Andalucia was, in its own deeply charming way, telling us get down off our high city-dwelling horses. It was the beginning of a long learning process, re-educating ourselves out of the frankly bizarre idea – for which I hold the supermarkets largely responsible - that everything should be available all of the time.
That is, of course, a nonsense. And realising this essential truth was a guiding force in the development of my own thinking on food and, ultimately, the creation of Wylde and the philosophy that underpins it.
Anyway, salmorejo is a cold, thick-as-a-dip tomato soup. Beautifully emulsified with olive oil, it’s a bit like a pimped-up gazpacho, but tastes better and is easier to make.
And it is just perfect at this time of year as either a starter to big feast, a deeply pleasing Saturday lunch or one tapa among many small plates or tapas.
If you’re interested in making it, do check out Omar Alibhoy’s recipe for it below.
And don’t forget that the market is open – or that delivery is free when you spend £100 or more.
Nick
*sal-mor-echo, where the ‘ch’ is as in the Scottish ‘loch’.
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