Ajoblanco (almond gazpacho)

As an entree for tonight’s dinner I made a quite interesting Andalusian recipe: the ajoblanco (literally whitegarlic) or almond gazpacho. It’s funny how late in life I even got to try this dish for the first time and the reason is that it’s really an Eastern Andalusian dish, like from Malaga, when I lived all my life in Seville (in Western Andalusia).  Distances are perceived from a totally different perspective in Europe, or at least they used to be, and customs, recipes, picturesque nuances change a lot from place to place, even if they’re physically quite close.

I took the old blender from the closet and put in it: a peeled and chopped clove of garlic, a pinch of sea salt, a piece of bread soaked in water, 250 ml of olive oil from Córdoba, about 600 ml of water, a spoon of Sherry vinegar, an egg, ¾ of a cup of raw almonds and ¼ of a cup of Spanish pine nuts (a little expensive but of superior quality). Then I blended all together very well and put the mix in the refrigerator for about 5 hours. For the presentation in bowls I garnished it with raisins (I wish I had from Malaga here) and green grapes (a pity you can hardly find them seeded anymore). 

The result in your mouth is refreshing and earthy, very cool feeling in early summer, and transports you to Al-Andalus times. This is probably an earlier version of the tomato gazpacho, since we didn’t have tomatoes until we discovered America and brought them with us to old Europe. The magic formula of gazpacho still works with all the power of garlic, olive oil and vinegar in your palate, while I dream of a white almond tree sunny valley.