Salmorejo, Curried Chicken and Crabcake Sliders

Sometimes an unplanned dinner can turn into something spectacular.  This was exactly one of those instances.  On Saturday, Chef Sue was picking up some veggies and in a moment of weakness bought a chicken.  Once home, she put it on the rotisserie thinking it might come in handy sometime later in the weekend.  Meanwhile, I was reading an article on salmorejo - a traditional Andalusian dish from Spain.

With my recent enjoyment of cold soup during the oppressive heat we are experiencing the DC area, I plunged ahead with my research of salmorejo.  Salmorejo is the creamy yet creamless cousin of gazpacho made with breadcrumbs, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and vinegar.  It is peasant food which puts good use to leftover bread.  Bless those peasants - it is simply delightful and creamy beyond belief.

As I researched salmorejo, I found the recipes did not vary much, but in each case the recipes emphasized the need for ripe tomatoes.  With the poor quality of store purchased tomatoes, I recommend buying them from your local farmers market or a road side stand to avoid the greenhouse ripened tomatoes that are hard as baseballs.  If you cannot get seasonal vine ripened tomatoes, canned tomatoes would be a better choice than the grocer version.

The meal came together when we decided to make curried chicken salad from the rotisserie chicken, add crabcake sliders from fresh Maryland crabs, and add freshly grilled corn on the cob.  In summary, a perfect meal for a hot summers day.

A couple of notes about the curried chicken salad.  Start with your favorite chicken salad recipe and add some curry, diced apple, halved grapes, and nuts of your choice (I prefer chopped walnuts).  Easy and tasty.

This meal was not planned as a wine pairing, so we pulled a bottle of daily drinker Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc.  It worked just fine and was a refreshing addition to the meal.

Recipe

Salmorejo

Ingredients

• ·      1 pound panko breadcrumbs
• ·      1 ½ pounds ripe red tomatoes (approximately nine medium tomatoes), peeled and seeded.
• ·      1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ·      1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• ·      1 garlic clove
• ·      salt to taste
• ·      Serrano ham
• ·      2 hard boiled eggs

Preparation

1. 1.     Put the panko and the tomatoes in the food processor and blend until well combined.  If you don’t have a large food processor, you may have to do this in batches.  If you don’t have a food processor, a blender will work and will definitely require several batches.  Be sure to put the tomatoes in first then work in the bread crumbs.
2. 2.     Add the raw garlic and olive oil. Blend until the mixture turns creamy and smooth.
3. 3.     Add salt to taste and vinegar, and mix again.
4. 4.     Refrigerate at least three hours.
5. 5.     Garnish with Serrano ham and slices of boiled eggs.
6. 6.     Variations on this recipe include the addition of red peppers, onions, and lemon.  Experiment and have fun.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig