Julie said of this recipe: "Ajo de blanco is possibly one of my favourite cold recipes. It’s a velvety Spanish almond soup.
"My first experience of it was in Seville, it was about 38 degrees Celsius that day and I thought nothing could ever cool me down. It was that kind of sticky, city heat that goes into your pores and is inescapable. Alas there was a sanctuary in bowl form from a hustling restaurant called Espacio Eslava - my first ajo de blanco experience.
"It’s gazpacho’s slightly lesser known sister, and dare I say it - it’s my favourite. The super cooling, smooth demeanour of this dish really suits the hot weather. Garnish with grapes and a bit of extra olive oil, bask in the sun and enjoy your new cool way of being."
1. Very lightly toast 165g almonds and allow to cool.
2. Soak 100g white stale bread (crusts removed) in almond milk for about 10 minutes.
3. Have 500ml ice cool water ready.
4. Blitz soaked bread and nuts with 2 small cloves of garlic in a blender with the remaining milk. (Remove green stalk in the middle of the garlic to stop it from being bitter, thank Felicity Cloake for this good tip!)
5. Add in a chopped and skinned Granny Smith apple and blitz again
6. Add 100ml good olive oil and the rest of the water.
7. Blitz until smooth and velvety and season with salt to your taste. (Sieve if you want it to be velvety smooth)
8. Put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours and enjoy chilled with sliced grapes and a drizzle of olive oil.
