Andalusian gazpacho
Seville-style gazpacho: very ripe tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, garlic and stale bread macerated with vinegar, then blended with olive oil into a smooth, orange-tinted cold soup, served with finely diced vegetables and croutons.
Method
- Put two bowls in the freezer. Wash the vegetables. For the garnish, cut the small tomato (60 g), 30 g cucumber and 20 g pepper into 5 mm dice and refrigerate in three small dishes. Remove the stalk ends from the other tomatoes and quarter them; cut the remaining unpeeled cucumber into chunks, the remaining pepper into strips and the onion in half. Peel the garlic and remove the central shoot.
- Put the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, onion and garlic in a mixing bowl with 4 g salt, 15 g vinegar and the pepper; mix and macerate for 20 minutes: the tomatoes release their juice and the garlic mellows. Immediately lay the crustless bread (40 g) over the vegetables and pour the 30 g water over it so it soaks up the juice. Meanwhile, toast the small bread slice in the toaster and cut into 5 mm croutons.
- Tip everything in the bowl, including the juice and bread, into the blender. Blend at full speed for 1 minute, scrape down the sides and blend for another minute: no pieces should remain visible. With the motor running at medium speed, remove the central cap from the lid and drizzle 30 g oil through the opening over 30 seconds: the soup lightens, turns orange and becomes slightly creamy. Add the ice cubes and blend for 20 seconds until melted.
- Pass through a fine conical sieve over a container, pressing with a ladle: only skins and seeds should remain; discard them. The gazpacho should be fluid but coating; if thick (less juicy tomatoes), thin with a spoonful of iced water at a time. Cover and refrigerate: the ice already makes it cool, but it is much better after 2 hours in the fridge (see tips).
- At serving time, stir and taste cold: chilling dulls salt and acidity. Adjust with the remaining gram of salt and, if the soup lacks punch, the reserved teaspoon of vinegar. Serve ice-cold in the bowls from the freezer and finish each bowl with a zigzag of raw olive oil (the remaining 10 g); put the diced vegetables and croutons in separate dishes so everyone can add their own.
On your plate
Recipe
341 kcal · protein 6 g · carbs 26 g · fat 21 g
Quantities per person
- 280 g Tomatoes, vine or round
- 75 g Cucumbers
- 40 g Green peppers
- 30 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)
- 20 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 10 g White wine vinegar
- 2.5 g Garlic
- 10 g Red onions
- 50 g Water
- 2.5 g Fine salt
- 0.15 g Ground black pepper
Cooking tips
It all depends on the tomatoes: very ripe and kept out of the fridge (cold kills their aroma); smell them at the market, as nothing can fix bland tomatoes. Chill the soup, not the vegetables. The stated time, using room-temperature vegetables and ice in the blender, produces an already cool gazpacho; it is much better made in the morning for the evening, or the day before: it keeps covered in the fridge for 24 hours and gains depth, making it an ideal Saturday starter. Use kosher sherry vinegar if you can find it for the true taste of Seville. Green pepper gives Seville gazpacho its fresh, grassy flavour; red pepper makes it milder and sweeter. Drink leftovers in a glass, very cold.
Seville gazpacho: vegetables macerated with salt and vinegar, stale bread and olive oil emulsified in a blender, strained through a fine sieve and served with garnishes (tropezones).
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