‘Jerimoje’, the summer salad with the funny name

The surprisingly good weather we are having lately makes me want to prepare refreshing dishes. As I haven’t been back home since spring I knew it was time to cook a recipe from Extremadura to cheer me up a bit. And nothing can cheer you up more than jerimoje. Just pronouncing the name makes me giggle.

 

What is it?

Jerimoje is a very easy-to-make summer salad with onions, tomatoes and green peppers or chillies, usually mixed with pork meat or fish. It’s typical from my hometown of Don Benito, although in other parts of the Badajoz province they have very similar versions with different names. In the town of Peloche (in the Siberia area) they call it escarapuche. Don’t ask me why the funny names! (The fact that I found out that an American woman was called Jeri Moje was also funny).

As well as other summer dishes with the same base, such as gazpacho or salmorejo, jerimoje is a ‘poor people dish’. Or at least it was. It’s a simple and cheap dish peasants used to have at around noon that kept them hydrated and energized until lunchtime (remember Spaniards have late lunches). It could be prepared with ingredients everyone had at home and they would add any grilled pork meat they had from the day before, to make it more filling.

 

Ok, now here’s the recipe…

 

Ingredients (2 people):

3 beef tomatoes

½ onion

1 green pepper

1 green chilli (optional)

400-500 gr pork. Diced.

Salt, olive oil and white wine vinegar

 

Preparation:

1. Finely chop the onion.

2. Cut the tomatoes into cubes.

3. Dice the green pepper.

4. Cut the chilli into thin slices.

5. Put all the above-mentioned ingredients in a big bowl.

6. Cook the pork in a griddle pan then add it to the bowl.

7. Season with olive oil, salt and vinegar.

8. Serve.

 

The result

 

Enjoy!

 

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