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Salmorejo-Stuffed Beefsteak Tomatoes with Beets

Salmorejo is traditionally made using some similar ingredients seen in gazpacho, with the addition of stale breadcrumbs that soak in the blended mixture.
When selecting your tomatoes to hollow out and stuff, make sure you choose very large, meaty tomatoes that have a higher flesh-to-pulp ratio. This will help ensure your tomatoes stay whole while you hollow them out.
If you want to make these stuffed tomatoes vegetarian, feel free to omit the jamon serrano.
The recipe below will provide 6 stuffed beefsteak tomatoes, with a bit of salmorejo leftover to refrigerate.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium-sized beet, scrubbed clean and left whole, with the stem cut off
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 6 large, meaty beefsteak tomatoes
  • 1 tsp kosher salt, for salting your hollowed-out beefsteak tomatoes
  • 8 roma tomatoes, skin peeled off and cores cut out
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1.5 cups stale white breadcrumbs from an old loaf of bread
  • 1 tsp kosher salt, or more to taste
  • 1 Tbsp sherry vinegar, or more to taste
  • ¾ cup high-quality extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup jamon serrano, thinly sliced and finely chopped
  • 3 eggs, hard-boiled and shells taken off, medium dice

Instructions 

  • Boil the beet in salty water with 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar for 90 minutes or until completely tender.
  • When beet is cool enough to handle, remove skin using paper towels and cut the peeled beet into medium-dice pieces.
  • Set diced beet aside for later.
  • For your beefsteak tomatoes, cut the cores out of the tops and cut into the tops at an angle to remove the top “lid” piece of the tomato.
  • *This process is similar to how you would cut the top “lid” section off a pumpkin if you were hollowing out a pumpkin for Halloween.
  • Use a melon-baller or teaspoon scoop to carefully remove the insides of each large beefsteak tomato.
  • Place the insides of the tomatoes that you removed into your blender or a bowl.
  • These will be combined with the less-expensive Roma tomatoes that you will use to make the salmorejo.
  • Salt your hollowed-out beefsteak tomatoes with a sprinkle of kosher salt inside each tomato and then proceed to make your salmorejo.
  • Combine your peeled tomatoes with the insides of the beefsteak tomatoes and blend using an immersion blender or food processor.
  • Add the garlic cloves, stale breadcrumbs, kosher salt, and sherry vinegar and blend for an additional 20 seconds.
  • Allow the blended mixture to sit for 5 minutes, giving the broken-up bread crumbs some time to fully absorb the liquid and soften up.
  • Add the olive oil and blend the mixture until completely incorporated and velvety smooth.
  • Taste and adjust seasoning for salt & acidity.
  • Mix the salmorejo with the diced beet from earlier and stir gently to incorporate.
  • Prepare your chopped jamon serrano and diced hard-boiled eggs for use as garnishes for your stuffed tomatoes.
  • When you are ready to stuff your beefsteak tomatoes, quickly turn them upside-down and drain out the water that has collected inside of them.
  • Spoon the beet and salmorejo mixture carefully into each hollowed-out beefsteak tomato, leaving enough room inside each of the tomatoes to add a bit of garnish.
  • Garnish each stuffed tomato with chopped jamon serrano and hard-boiled eggs.
  • Put the top piece (“lid”) of the stuffed tomatoes back on each tomato, and place the stuffed tomatoes in the refrigerator for roughly 30 minutes.
  • Serve and enjoy when ready!

Notes

These salmorejo-stuffed tomatoes can be made a day in advance and refrigerated. You may want to let them come a little closer to room temperature before serving them up.