Gazpacho
Gazpacho is possibly the second freshest food in the world after ice-cream. When it gets hot and you don’t want to mess around in the kitchen, Gazpacho will save the day. All you need is some tasty bread on the side and dinner is sorted.
I did a bit of research and there are several variations of the recipe, but I’m going to be sticking to what seems to be its most traditional form. For example, this means using garlic instead of onion and only using green peppers. As with most mediterranean dishes there are infinite variations, but this should get you the most authentic Gazpacho flavour — I hope I am not offending any Gazpacho Gurus out there!
“This is liquid salad. It’s a trap!”
Philip does have an interesting point and actually if you think about the ingredients, Gazpacho is almost like a Greek salad. A Greek salad minus the feta.
Liquid salad.
Ingredients
1kg Tomatoes
1 Green Pepper
1 Cucumber
1 Garlic Clove
50ml olive oil
50g Bread (crumb only)
250ml Water
1tsp Salt
30g Sherry Vinegar
Tools
Blender
Colander
Cooking time & People
15mins to prepare + 2h rest in the fridge
Step by Step
Wash the vegetables
Peel the cucumber and cut it in half lengthwise. With your fingers scoop out the seeds in the middle and get rid of them
Cut the tomatoes in quarters and get rid of the seeds and gelatinous part. You can keep the skin on. We’ll use a colander at the end to get rid of all the little bits.
Cut the pepper and get rid of the seeds
Add all the ingredients in the blender except the bread. Blend until smooth
Open the lid of the blender and put the bread on top of the Gazpacho. Leave it to slowly soak in the soup
Once the bread is submerged in the soup, blend again until smooth. The bread is what will help give the right consistency to the soup
Pass the soup through a colander to get rid of the little bits of tomato skin
Put in the fridge to rest for a couple of hours and serve cold with a drizzle of olive oil
Tips & cheats
This is as easy as making a smoothie, so I don’t really have great tips to give. The only thing I would suggest is that you can
control the consistency of the soup with the bread. If you want it to be thicker just add in a bit more bread.
Croutons are great with Gazpacho. You can make you own using old bread. All you need to do is chop the bread into little cubes and cook them in a non-stick pan with a generous drizzle of olive oil. They are ready when they are nice and golden.
“I changed my mind; this isn’t a salad, it’s a Bloody Mary”
If you add generous amounts of Tabasco like Philip did, it will turn into a sort of Bloody Mary.
I am very opposed to this addition but thankfully he did it in his plate only!
