Gazpacho Extremeño

Gazpacho Extremeño belongs to Extremadura, and it isn't the Andaluz glass of tomato soup with cucumber. This one is thicker, closer to salmorejo in body, but the cooked egg yolk, pepper, onion, and pimentón give it its own hand. It should be cold, red, and spoonable, with enough bread to hold the oil, not so much that you feel you've blended a loaf.

The method that decides it is the yolk and oil. Mash the cooked yolks with garlic, salt, pimentón, vinegar, and soaked bread first, then let the olive oil go in slowly while the blender runs. That is what gives the soup its body. Pour the oil in all at once and it tastes heavy and separate; take half a minute and it turns smooth. Pésalo, no lo adivines.

Make it only when the tomatoes are worth eating raw. If you're far from Extremadura, use the ripest field tomatoes you can buy, or good canned whole peeled tomatoes only when fresh ones are poor; the flavour will be softer and less bright, but it will still make a proper cold soup. No cucumber here. That belongs to other gazpachos, not this one. Chill it hard, taste it cold, and serve with the chopped egg white and a little pepper and onion on top. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.