White Garlic Soup (Ajo Blanco)

Christmas Recipes

We have had friends at home and we have decided to prepare a white garlic soup for the very first time and the result has been surprising :-) This is a very popular cold soup in the Andalusian cuisine (Granada, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga and Almería mainly), and Extremadura and consists of bread, ground almonds garlic, water, olive oil, salt and sometimes vinegar. It is usually served with grapes or pieces of melon. We have added mango dices (thank you Ivan for your great recommendation ;-)) and the result is incredible, very yummy. This dish may have had its origin in the Roman gastronomy, or, more probably in the Greek gastronomy. It is considered a variant of Andalusia Gazpacho, as it is based on bread, oil and garlic. We really hope you enjoy the result as much as we did:

Ingredients

2/3 cup of peeled almonds
½ cup of stale bread
2 and half cups of cold water.
4 cloves of garlic
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

Preparation

Cooking Instructions:

Soak the bread for 10 minutes in cold water.

Toast the almonds in a frying pan until they get some color. Remove from the fire and let them cool down. Put¼ cup aside to use for decoration later.

Put the bread and the remaining almonds in a mixer. Add a little water and blend the mixture around for a minute until it is finely grounded. Meanwhile, with the motor running on low,add the rest of the water, garlic, oil and vinegar. Mix until it is soft. Season it to taste.

Let the mixture cool down in the refrigerator for two hours. Serve the soup in bowlsand decorate with the remaining almonds and a splash of oil.

You can also add some grapes for decoration as well.

¡ BUEN PROVECHO !