Ajoblanco, Spain’s Cold Garlic Soup
Ajoblanco is an ice-cold soup from the Andalusía region of Spain. The English translation of ajoblanco is white garlic, and it’s indeed a beautifully white soup made with only four ingredients: almonds, garlic, olive oil, and hearty bread. It’s humble and so delicious. It predates gazpacho, that other, better known, Spanish cold soup that is based on tomatoes imported from Mexico after the conquest.
Like gazpacho, ajoblanco originates in the Andalusía region of Spain, the southern, hotter part of the country. There is general agreement that the soup is part of the Andalusía regional cuisine, and two towns in that region, Málaga and Granada, have an ongoing dispute, both claiming to have invented ajoblanco. The town of Almáchar, just east of Málaga, holds the annual “Fiesta del ajoblanco” on the first Saturday of September.
I first tasted this Spanish garlic soup in Madrid as the first course of a summer lunch. It has a rich, creamy consistency which comes from the blanched almonds that are traditionally mashed in a mortar, but which can be easily puréed in a blender, as in this recipe. Traditional garnish is the white (green) Muscat grape, plentiful in Málaga as are almonds.
Recipe for Ajoblanco
Ingredients (makes 6 cups)
4 ounces, by weight, blanched, peeled almonds
5 1/2 ounces, by weight, day-old bread that has a dense crumb and crusty exterior
1 quart ice-cold water
1/2 cup Spanish (or other) extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbs white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
18 seedless white (green) grapes, cut in half
Method
1. To peel the skin off the almonds, place the almonds in a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds, no more. Drain them onto a colander and rinse them with cold water to cool. Blot the almonds dry, then press them between your fingers to peel of the skin. Set aside.
3. In a blender, add the almonds, garlic, and 2 cups of water. Blend until the almonds are liquefied.
4. Add the bread, white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, remaining water, and blend until completely smooth.
5. Chill the soup in the refrigerator for two hours or overnight.
Taste and adjust the salt. If you want a thinner consistency, add a little more cold water.
To serve, pour the cold soup into bowls and garnish with the grape halves.
¡Buen provecho!
Please let me know how things turned out. For garlic, you might want to try the chicken in cumin garlic broth: <https://adanmedrano.com/chicken-poached-garlic-cumin-broth/> Also, I like to roast the heads of garlic and use them as spread on bread. Saludo.
Well after thinking on it and asking the girls if they were willing to give it a try. We all agreed to try it and on a hot day here in Texas.. How could we not! I will make my say after eating it. But the girls are ahead of me on this. They are adding on the side soft boiled potatos boiled with red and green bell peppers cut very small and if I let them.. they can try the orange gelatin as a desert to finish off the meal. Myself I am getting some toasted dread “Italian style to garnish my own belly. Thanks for the recipe. Oh.. We have a bag of about 5lbs of Garlic. Any recommendations to use all this Garlic? Phil, Paige and Van.