Creams in summer, the colder the better

BarcelonaWho would eat a stew in summer? As soon as you write and pronounce its name, we already sweat. However, cold soups are the dish of the season: subtle, refreshing, and they have the ability to make use of the bits of ingredients left over in the kitchen from other prepared dishes. Soups are a sustainable resource: you have a piece of leek, an onion, and a pear, you help it with mineral water and a touch of perfume to enhance the flavors, and you already have one to eat with a spoon. In this regard, chef Carme Ruscalleda proposes cooking four traditional soups, classics of local and international cuisine that will always be current and, in turn, allow for personal experimentation, so that everyone can finish them with their personal touch.

When starting, there are some basic premises for making soups. "We try to ensure that no ingredient exceeds the others in quantity," recommends Carme Ruscalleda as she observes the fruits and vegetables at a stall in Barcelona's Mercat de Galvany on a summer morning. "We must use the right amount of salt, pepper, and touches of garlic, pepper, and onion, which are the perfumes that warm the dishes, although if they are unbalanced, they will make us remember them for hours," explains the cook. Then there is respect for colors: "Starting from classic soups, if we want to experiment, we must keep in mind that they are either white or red. So we can exchange a vegetable ingredient for a summer fruit of one color or another," points out Ruscalleda, vice-president of the Catalan Academy of Gastro. And then she recounts how to prepare the four soups.

Salmorejo recipe

What would we do without salmorejo and gazpacho? "Now we see them as very much our own, but I still remember the culture shock it caused at home when a woman from Cordoba told my mother that she bought tomatoes to prepare this dish," recalls Carme Ruscalleda. "For my mother, eating tomatoes with a spoon was anti-cultural, because in summer they were destined for preserves and salads," she adds. In the kitchen, salmorejo differs from gazpacho because it contains, more generously, breadcrumbs and extra virgin olive oil. "These two ingredients give an elegant creaminess to the recipe, while also making it more consistent as a dish," explains the cook, who points out that her mother already made it with an electric blender, an appliance that her grandmother considered "as extraordinary as going to the Moon".

The ingredients that make it up are pepper, garlic, and tomato. From here you can experiment with strawberries, cherries, and peaches. "If we add them, then they should be put in equal parts of tomato and strawberries, or of tomatoes and cherries, or of tomatoes and peaches." Cooking is continuous experimentation, but "also looking for it to turn out well for us," emphasizes Ruscalleda. Thus, in salmorejo, tomato reigns, which is diluted if any fruit is added. For its part, onion and garlic must be measured. "Bread and extra virgin olive oil will provide the velvety texture that a salmorejo should have, while in a gazpacho we prefer more of a rock'n'roll edge." A final piece of advice to finish: "I usually remove the seeds from the tomatoes, because I find they add a woody flavor," remarks the chef from Sant Pol de Mar.

Vichyssoise recipe

The burning of an exotic name. It is prepared with leeks, white slices intertwined with each other; it has a lactic touch, and the potato binds the ingredients until it gives elegance to the dish. "To make vichyssoise, it is very important that the amount of potato does not stand out, because it only has to have a touch that emulsifies the recipe," explains Ruscalleda, who recommends adding summer fruits, but always white ones, such as apple, pear, or melon. "If we add it, the amount of leek used must be halved."

If there is any leftover from the day we prepare it, the vichyssoise can be stored in the refrigerator and eaten the next day. It is recommended to do so with fried bread cubes, for example, which add a crunchy touch to the sponginess of the liquid leek. Another thing that can be added is a stir-fry of the green threads of the leek; a way to use it all.

Ajoblanco recipe

To the standard recipe of ajoblanco, a cream of Andalusian origin, like gazpacho and salmorejo, chef Carme Ruscalleda suggests adding white fruits: "When the grape season arrives, eat the vineyard fruit along with the cream, which is based on scalding it" on the plate. Like all creams, they can be eaten, once made, by adding other ingredients that provide crunchy textures, whether or not it is necessary to sink your teeth in. To continue, although ajoblanco is not as popular as gazpacho, it shares with this other dish its nutritional qualities: eating garlic is good for "improving circulation, due to its sulfur compounds, which prevent blood clotting", states nutritionist Marc Vergés. The less we chop it, the better. "If we want to take advantage of its beneficial effect, we should eat it every day", adds Vergés. Against the bad breath it causes, one of the reservations about eating it, there is a solution: "Eat chopped parsley", he says.

Oliaigo recipe

Carme Ruscalleda learned the recipe thanks to a Sant Pau client born in Menorca. He explained the original recipe and its variations to her. "The conversations I have, with clients who came to the restaurant but also in general, always revolve around cooking," she recalls. The fact is that the cook considers asparagus the height of elegance for vegetables. "I would say it's a pleasure for the senses," and it is even more so when the fig season begins, in August, and especially in September, when the fruit can be eaten with the soup or the roast. The final advice is that if we don't like chunky creams, it can be blended to make it smooth. And, if there's any left over, the cook recommends using it to scald on some thin toast. And eat it with bread, which is a family tradition.