Gazpacho

While I haven’t had the opportunity to travel to Spain yet, it’s definitely near the top of my list ‘places in the world I have to make it to one day’. Andalusia in the southern region of Spain is where this recipe originates from – with its Mediterranean climate, history and great food, it sounds like a great place to visit to me. Andalusia is also the home to bullfighting, flamenco, the guitar itself and tapas – that great finger food that encourages conversation and eating at the same time.

As the photographer it was not without a little trepidation that I decided to step out from behind the camera and produce something of my own. I decided that gazpacho with its no cooking and few ingredients wasn’t too much of a challenge for my culinary skills.

As the song from ‘The Mighty Boosh’ says Gazpacho is a summer soup. I was intrigued the first time I had this cold tomato soup but it definitely goes down well on a hot summer’s day – or any day in my book.

Ingredients

4

• Soup
• 650g tomatoes (tomatoes with a high solid content and fewer seeds are best, such as Roma or San Marzano), cored and quartered
• ½ cucumber, peeled and chopped
• ¾ green pepper, cored seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• ¾ cup olive oil
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 pinches sugar
• Salt to taste

• Topping
• 1 loaf Ciabatta bread
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• ½ cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 4 shallots, peeled and chopped
• 2-3 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• Balsamic vinegar

Method

• For the soup
• 1. Add all of the measured and prepared ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
• 2. Taste for a nice acidity, adding a little more sugar or balsamic vinegar to balance it out.
• 3. Strain the liquid - you might need to push the pulp through the strainer with the back of a spoon if the strainer has a fine mesh.
• 4. Refrigerate until chilled.

• While the soup is chilling, prepare the topping.
• 1. Slice the ciabatta loaf. Take half and cut into crouton size pieces, fry in a little olive oil until golden and then set aside.
• 2. Take the other half of the bread slices and grill or lightly fry to serve on the side.
• 3. To serve - pour the chilled gazpacho into bowls, add a few of the cherry tomato halves, a few pieces of cucumber and some shallot pieces. Sprinkle over some chopped mint and drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar around the bowl.