It’s a fair bet my Mother first tasted this traditional summer soup from Andalusia in 1953–when my parents took brother Peter and me to the Costa Brava for a two week holiday. Dad worked for British Railways and got a certain amount of concessionary travel in Europe.
There were five hotels at that time in Lloret del Mar (five hundred plus now!).
We stayed in one of them with a pretty courtyard–twenty yards from the beach.
I don’t remember the soup but the egg fried in olive oil I can taste to this day!
Franco’s military police, patrolling the beach in funny hats and holding not-so-funny machine guns, also made an impression. No such thing at on the sands at Woolacombe!
About a kilo collected this morning--a little more than the recipe.
Molly Ellis’ Recipe (slightly adapted!)
Chop the tomatoes roughly–and put them in the food processor.
Chop up half a large, peeled cucumber and half a large, red pepper–seeded–(she calls them pimentoes) and add them to the processor.
I add a couple of spring onions (scallions)–chopped. (Ma adds a yellow onion–which I’ll try next time).
Mash up 3 cloves of garlic, as she does, with a little salt–and add them to the processor.
Pulse the contents–not too smooth a finish.
Empty this already tasty mix into a bowl and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Stir in 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and two tablespoons of olive oil.
A few drops of Tabasco–as she suggests–a matter of taste.
(At lunch today I added an ice cube to each bowl instead of water.)
Chill for a couple of hours.
We found a ladle each is enough–with a whirl of olive oil to finish?
Robin Ellis 