Sep 23

Soups, salads, vegetables & potatoes | Traditional Spanish Recipes

Ajo Blanco

Summer is over! I’m welcoming the cold, the blankets, the jackets, the boots… and the wild mushrooms, the comfort food, the pumpkins… but before that, and seeing that our weather doesn’t care about Fall rules (we are having beautiful hot days) I want to show you one of our Traditional Spanish Recipes for the Summer: Ajo Blanco, a delicious cold soup basically made out of almonds and garlic… Fantastic for the hot days.

I’m bringing back to the front this recipe I posted during my first blogging years. The recipe is improved and so are the pictures :D

Ajo means garlic and Blanco, white… an easy and simple name for an easy and simple dish! Back to the origins of Ajo Blanco, as happens with many other recipes, the idea to use garlic, almonds, bread and olive oil came from the use of cheap and handy products. If you travel to Andalusia, you will enjoy this dish in many of its restaurants. Malaga and Granada are supposed to be the best choice for Ajo Blanco, they are located in the South of Spain and  known for their wonderful Olive oil, beautiful beaches, shinny white village houses, Historical monuments… A dream to visit!

Even though the name of the dish might indicate the use of lots of garlic, it’s not the case, you will only need 2 garlic cloves; instead, the main ingredients here are the almonds and the bread.

Garlic has been known through the years for its amazing properties, it’s a: vasodilator, hypotensive, anti platelet, lipid lowering, hypoglycemic, bactericidal, fungicidal, antiviral and vermifuge… a pharmacy in your garden and in your dishes!!!
Almonds also have the following properties: laxative, anti-inflammatory, emollient and healing.

Have one bowl of Ajo blanco and you will become indestructible!!! ;-)

If you make a search, you will find many different recipes for Ajo blanco, but the basics are nearly always the same. Have it with melon, Spanish ham, bread croutons, anchovies, grapes…