Summer Series: Gazpacho

As old as the hills, gazpacho has its roots in the southern city of Andalusia, Spain. Originating amongst the peasants (as all good food does) laboring in vineyards, citrus groves, and olive plantations, gazpacho was concocted with “on hand” ingredients… Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, week old bread, oil, garlic and salt… Served cold.

A Spanish refrain says, “De gazpacho no hay empacho”-there is never enough gazpacho. Ain’t that the truth! In the midst of the dog days of summer, there is a sea of tomatoes at the farmers markets and all I could think about was gazpacho this week. Truth be told, I’ve never actually made gazpacho. I called about five restaurants in Paris to see if they had gazpacho and to my surprise, no one did. So, I decided this would be the week to make our own homemade gazpacho. Mission accomplished. I now have an entire freezer filled with a winter’s worth of gazpacho.

Gazpacho is a no-brainer but there are some tips to make it the best:

•             Week old bread is the best to use

•             Just because this is considered a cold soup, that doesn’t mean it should be served icy cold. Cool room temperature is best.

•             Use the ripest, freshest tomatoes you can find and don’t refrigerate them.

•             Let the flavors have some time to blend. Best to make the soup in the morning.

•             Add a dollop of fresh crab to finish.

•             Make your own garlicky, herbed croutons to finish

As usual, I have a few recipes to share. The first comes from my friend, Heather, from Lost in Arles blog. Heather and her husband have planted oodles of tomatoes in their Provence garden and she has shared her gazpacho recipe with us…

 

Heather's Gazpacho Recipe...

 

"Core and rough chop four to five big 'ol  tomatoes and  transfer into a bowl - leave  the juices on the board. Rip up two good sized  pieces of preferably day-old bread without the  crusts (I also use those dry  mini apero  toasts for bulk). Transfer the tomatoes into the food  processor  (I like thick style, if you  don't then of course use your blender), put the  bread in the tomato bowl and transfer tomato  juices on top, mix and let sit.

While the juice is softening the bread, peel and rough chop 2  medium  cucumbers, either 1 big shallot or 1  red onion and the garlic (your call, as  I am  a garholic I use 4-5!). Add the soaked bread and pulse with  the  tomatoes until it is porridge - not too  much. Then add the cukes,  shallot/onion,  garlic and 2-3 tablespoons Xeres vinager (or you could do  one red wine and one balsalmic), salt (I like  coarse for this) and a liberal  dose of  Worchestire - blend until mixed. Then, keeping it running on  low,  add in 1/2 cup of olive oil until  incorporated. Taste and adjust, scrape  down  the sides and then turn it up and let it mix on high until  you are  happy with it. Put in the fridge -  hopefully overnight - and add whatever  strikes your fancy for the presentation but I  like just a bit of mint and  maybe and extra  swirl of olive oil. I know that other traditional recipes  call for red pepper, which I love but for me it  makes it too acidic." -Heather

 

Now that we have the basic gazpacho recipe down let’s kick it up a notch…

 

 Cucumber Wasabi Gazpacho. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

 Moroccan Carrot Gazpacho. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

Creamy Corn Gazpacho. Click HERE for recipe.

 

 

Voilà! Gazpacho. Stay tuned for the next Summer Series. Hint: Hedera