An Extremaduran salad of roasted red peppers from the comarca of La Vera, in Cáceres province. The peppers and ripe tomatoes are roasted whole until the skins blister, then peeled, torn into strips, and dressed with raw garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and vinegar. Chopped hard-boiled egg and onion are common additions. It is served cold as a starter, a side for grilled meat or fish, or part of a light tapas spread, with bread to mop the juices.
Zorongollo is documented as a traditional dish of Cáceres province, and is most closely tied to the comarca of La Vera, the growing region for the red peppers that define it. Roasting and dressing peppers in this way is a long-standing peasant method of using the late-summer harvest; the dish is essentially a local expression of the wider Spanish escalivada family. Cumin appears in some modern and home variants but is not part of the classic dressing, which relies on garlic, olive oil, and vinegar.
Cold strips of sweet roasted pepper, soft and silky, glossy with olive oil and carrying a faint char from the skin. The roasted tomato and raw garlic give a savory, slightly sharp base; the vinegar cuts through at the finish. Hard-boiled egg, when added, rounds it with a soft richness. Best eaten fridge-cold, never warm, with bread to catch the pooled juices.
Roasting the peppers whole at high heat blisters and loosens the skin while the flesh steams in its own moisture, concentrating the sugars and deepening the flavor. After roasting, the peppers are covered and left to sweat: the trapped steam lifts the charred skin so it peels away cleanly, leaving smooth, sweet flesh. The juices released during peeling are kept and become part of the dressing. Raw garlic and acid are added off the heat so they stay bright rather than cooking down.
Variations
Catalan escalivada is the better-known sibling: it grills peppers, aubergine, and onion over coals and usually omits tomato and egg. Within Extremadura, some cooks add tuna or anchovy, others stir in a little cumin or substitute sherry vinegar for white wine vinegar. A quick version uses jarred roasted peppers when fresh ones are out of season.
On the Palate
Where Zorongollo sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 20 min active + 50 min waiting
- 145 min
Heat the oven to 200°C. Place whole red peppers and ripe tomatoes on a tray and roast 35–45 minutes, turning once, until the skins blister and char.
Watch outRoast the peppers until the skins truly blister and char — the flesh steams in its own moisture and the sugars concentrate, and only a well-charred skin peels clean.
- 220 min
Cover the hot peppers and tomatoes with a cloth or lid and leave to sweat and cool, about 20 minutes, so the skins loosen.
Watch outCover the hot peppers and let them sweat about 20 minutes — the trapped steam lifts the skin so it slips off, leaving smooth sweet flesh.
- 35 min
Peel the peppers, discarding skin, seeds, and membranes, and tear the flesh into strips, saving any juices.
- 45 min
Peel and chop the tomatoes; finely chop the garlic and slice the onion thinly.
- 512 min
Hard-boil the eggs for 10 minutes, cool, peel, and chop.
- 65 min
Arrange the pepper strips on a dish, top with tomato, onion, and egg, then dress with the reserved juices, olive oil, vinegar, and salt.
- 730 min
Chill thoroughly and serve cold with bread.
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