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…
