When temperatures begin to rise in summer in Spain, it’s time to break out one of the most popular dishes of the season: Andalucian gazpacho. It’s not exactly a “dish” as such, but rather a cold soup that is usually served as a first course.
Mediterranean Recipe
Andalucia is in southern Spain, and they know a thing or two about rising temperatures down there! We know it’s not Catalan, but as is the case with just about all our recipes, it is Mediterranean, and all the ingredients are easily found here. It’s really simple to prepare and only takes about 15 or 20 minutes.
Gazpacho
There are probably as many gazpacho recipes as there are Spanish households, each with its own personal touches and variations in ingredients according to tastes, regions, or seasons. But the one thing they all have in common is that the tomato is the star ingredient, and the best results come from using organically-grown, fresh tomatoes.
It is known that a kind of proto-gazpacho was already being made centuries ago, in the time of al-Andalus, using bread, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt and water, but when tomatoes and peppers came back to Spain following the “discovery” of the New World, the recipe changed forever!
Gazpacho is cheap to make, refreshing, very nutritious and the recipe is super easy to follow. This cocktail of vitamins and minerals includes vitamin C (mainly from the pepper), vitamins A and E, carbohydrates, and minerals such as phosphorus, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, potassium and sodium. It also contains vegetable fibre and antioxidant substances such as lycopene (responsible for the red color of tomatoes). It is both cleansing and diuretic and contains few calories.
Ingredients:
- 1kg of well-ripe red tomatoes, preferably organic
- 1 small to medium green pepper
- 100 ml EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
- 30 ml Jerez vinegar (or other vinegar if you prefer – but Jerez is from Andalucia!)
- One small to medium onion, or a couple of shallots
- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic (or as many or as few as you like – or none if you prefer!)
- 1 cucumber
- Salt (optional)
- Bread – the equivalent of about one slice from a sliced pan (see below)
- Suggestions for the garnish: a couple of cherry tomatoes, and set aside a little of the green pepper, cucumber, and shallot or onion (chopped into small pieces)
Preparation:
“Pain perdu” (“lost bread”), as the French call stale bread, is perfect for this recipe. Tear your bread into a few smaller pieces and place in a bowl with a little water, and let it rest while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients. If you are celiac, we suggest that you use gluten-free bread rather than leave the bread out altogether, as it is the bread that gives the gazpacho a bit more consistently.
- Wash the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber
- Cut the tomatoes into quarters, removing the stem
- Cut the ends off the cucumber and chop into a few pieces.
- Peel and chop the onion and cloves of garlic
- Remove the pith from the green pepper and chop roughly
- Place all the ingredients into a blender, including the bread
- Add the extra virgin olive oil, Jerez vinegar, and a pinch of salt.
- Blend until you have a liquid sauce.
- If you like, you can pass the liquid through a strainer to make it as fine as possible, but this is not really necessary – and would defeat the purpose of the bread.
- Taste, and add a little more salt if desired
- Place your “soup” in the fridge and let it cool for a couple of hours, and that’s basically it. You’ve just made gazpacho!
Gazpacho can be served in a deep dish or bowl or drank from a glass. It is sometimes accompanied by a slice or two of acorn-fed Jamón Ibérico or some fresh mozzarella cheese. You can also garnish with a little of the green pepper and/or onion or shallot you set aside earlier and diced finely. Cherry tomatoes cut in half, or even a sprig of mint on top, are also not unusual.
If you are going to keep your gazpacho in the fridge and not serve it till quite some time later, it is better not to add the vinegar when blending as it may oxidize and give off a metallic taste. In that case, it’s better to add the vinegar and/or a little lemon juice just before serving.
And NjOY!
Check out our other Mediterranean recipes for dishes to try at home.