Our greenhouse is totally oversweamed of deep red, juicy tomatoes. We have waited all summer to taste them. Now it is so many that I cook with tomatoes every day. But it is so much to do, and I really love this little red fruit.
One of my absolutly favorite dish a warm summer day is the Andaluzian gazpacho. So easy, so delicious and super refreshing. Below is a simple ecipe without twist. You can variate by adding yoghurt for an even more creamy soup for example. All though I prefer using a high quality olive oil that will give a hint of grass flavour and give the soup prefect consistence.
Serve the soup well chilled and chop fresh vegetables to add of the extra crisp.
Creamy Gazpacho
Ingredients
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 hot pepper of choice deseeded and chopped (optional but I love to add a subtle bit of heat).
4 - 6 ripe medium to large ripe tomatoes, cored and chopped.
1 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 red onion, trimmed and finely chopped
1 slice of day old crusty white bread, chopped (I always use Gluten-free bread as I am intolarant)
2 tbsp sherry vinegar, or to taste (can also use red wine vinegar or if you prefer juice of 1 lemon )
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (plus a couple of more to drizzle into soup while blending – to finish it off).
Method
Place the cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, garlic and onion in a large bowl. Add the bread and season with salt and pepper.
Add the sherry vinegar and olive oil and mix together with your hands, pressing down on ingredients to squeeze out the juices.
Put the vegetable mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Check the consistency. If it is still rather thick and not very rich, add a little more olive oil until you reach a consistency you like.
Serve with fine chopped vegetables, chopped basil, an extra drizzle of olive oil and be generous with the black pepper.
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