Chilled Tomato & Bread Soup Cordoba Style

Some of the greatest foods are born of simplicity and that is what i love about the Movida cookbook. Movida owner Frank Camorra talks of the heart of spanish cuisine, and every recipe i have cooked has focused around bringing out the true essence in one or two core ingredients. To that extent i think of his restaurants, i would probably prefer the lower keyed taverna style Movida Next Door, over the opulent dishes of Movida itself.

This is yet another recipe i have lifted from Movida's cookbook: and this time, i have not played one bit with the recipe (except to halve it so i'm not eating it for the next 6 months). I can tell this soup is best made in the summer when tomatoes are at their best; do not skimp, and ensure you use fresh, vine ripened tomatoes. And don't use Wonder White bread!

Ingredients (Serves 2 as entree, 4 as main)

• 500gm vine ripened tomatoes
• 1 loaf stale white bread
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 clove garlic, crushed
• 50ml extra virgin olive oil
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 4mm slice proscuitto

Method

Puree the tomatoes in a blender until fairly smooth.
Pass the tomatoes through a sieve into a large mixing bowl, pressing to extract as much juice as possible.

Add the salt, olive oil and bread in chunks.

Get your hands in there to squeeze the tomatoes into the bread as much as possible.

Leave to sit for 15 minutes to allow the bread to further soak up the tomato.
Transfer to the blender again to puree into a velvety thick soup; add chilled water if needed to loosen the mixture.

Chill for at least 2 hours prior to serving.
Serve with slivers of proscuitto and broken boiled eggs on top.