Gazpachos, get refreshed.
When fruits and vegetables are at their full summer ripeness, it’s delicious to use them in their raw state, to get all the goodness and vitamins. Creating, refreshing Gazpachos can tick that box.
Gazpachos
Most people will know Gazpacho as the chilled tomato soup, of which of course it is, there are many guises of this refreshing soup and new trendy additions and alterations. Commonly it was a way for Spanish households to make use of larder supplies, and ingredients home-grown. Nothing is ever wasted in the Spanish kitchen, stale bread, olive oil, vinegar, salt, are all put to good use to impart and bring out the flavour of seasonal fruits and vegetables.
La Rosilla Gazpacho
Ingredients
- 1kg very ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cucumber peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 small red onion roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic cut in half root stem removed
- 2 roasted piquillo peppers
- 50g stale bread
- Sherry Vinegar to taste
- 200ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil ( I use Picual)
- Salt flakes to taste
When I’m making a Gazpacho, I like all the flavours to infuse together for a few hours if time allows.
Put the chopped tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic and peppers in a bowl, add the vinegar and 1/2 olive oil and chopped up bread. Put in the fridge for the juices to infuse for a couple of hours.
Now time to blend, using a hand blender or stand-alone blender, slowly blend the ingredients and slowly add the remaining olive oil, little by little to create an emulsion. Add ice water until you have a pourable consistency.
If you’re serving guests you can pass through a sieve, or if like me, pour in a large glass and enjoy as a smoothie.
Toppings
Choices of toppings are endless and personal. Experiment with different fresh herbs and chopped vegetables. Here are some ideas :
- Chopped hard-boiled egg
- Tuna
- Chopped apple
- Tapenade
- Pesto
- Basil, Dill, Coriander
- Finely chopped red pepper & cucumber
- Fried Croutons
Always finish with a flourish of your best Olive oil 😉
Cherry Gazpacho
When cherries are in season, this is a delicious way to add a deep sweetness to the traditional Tomato Gazpacho, this makes a great starter for a dinner party of canape, served in shot glasses.
Serves 4
- 200g ripe cherries, de-stoned
- 200g ripe tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic, halved and root removed
- salt flakes
- Sherry vinegar
- 100g white stale bread
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and leave for flavours to infuse for an hour at room temperature.
Blend all the ingredients together adding Ice water as you go to your desired consistency (like yoghurt). Before serving adjust the salt to taste.
