Beet salmorejo

Ingredients

• 2-3 large beets
• 2-3 roma tomatoes
• 1/2 cup Spanish EVOO
• 1 tsp sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
• 1.5 cups of bread, no crust, ideally a bit stale
• Juice of one orange
• Salt to taste

Instructions

Boil the beets in water until soft. Reserve cooking water.

Peel beets when cool enough to handle and dice into blender-friendly chunks.

Add beets, 1/4 cup of cooking water, orange juice, vinegar, tomatoes and salt to the blender. Pulse until combined. Add the bread, pulse again to combine then allow to sit 5 minutes before blending on high speed until smooth. Resulting texture should be like a smoothie, but if too thick add more of the cooking water.

Switch to blending on medium and slowly pour in the olive oil.

Taste and adjust seasoning if required.

Chill the soup before serving. Good with toppings such as:

• cubes of feta cheese
• a splash of EVOO
• olives
• smoked sardines
• green apple