Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a cold Spanish vegetable soup. The origin of this soup is unknown, but sometime in the 19th century, this soup started to become popular in Spain. It is currently one of the most famous soups in Spain and also in Portugal. It is served in many eateries around the world. Today, this soup has been varied with many different ingredients. One of the most common variations of gazpacho uses tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and cucumbers. Dry bread is sometimes added to make the soup thicker, but I haven’t done that. The soup is delicious and fresh without it. An ideal, quick, and very tasty meal on a hot summer day. This is a soup that is not boiled and is therefore prepared very quickly.
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Level: Easy
Quantity: for two
Ingredients:
About 800 g of unpeeled ripe tomatoes
About 200 g of fresh, peeled cucumber
One medium red or green bell pepper
Two medium cloves of garlic
One smaller onion
3-4 tablespoons of good-quality olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
If desired, you can also add smoked paprika and cumin
If desired, it can be served with bread croutons, for which the bread must be cut into small pieces, placed on a baking sheet, lightly sprinkled with olive oil, and browned at 250 degrees C for about 10 minutes until crispy.
The soup is very tasty when garnished with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and paprika.
Preparation:
- Boil water in a pot, place the tomatoes in the water, and keep them in the boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Take the tomatoes out of the boiling water, let them cool a bit, and peel. The peel comes off very easily.
- Peel the cucumber, roughly cut the pepper into pieces, remove the seeds, and peel the onion and garlic. Reserve some of the vegetables to chop as a garnish.
- Place all the vegetables in a blender or food processor. Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the white, harder part from the top of the tomatoes.
- Pour olive oil and wine vinegar over the vegetables, lightly season with sea salt and black pepper. If you wish, you can also use other spices, but the classic, simple version is the best.
- Grind all the components until smooth within 2-3 minutes. If you want a chunkier soup, you can crush a for one minute or less, as requested.
- Before serving, check the flavors and, if necessary, add seasonings or wine vinegar.
- To serve, cut the bread into pieces, sprinkle with a little olive oil, and roast in the oven at 250 degrees C for 10 minutes, then use the resulting bread croutons as a side dish for the soup. Alternatively, finely chop some tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cucumbers and put them on top of the soup when serving.
- Pour a little olive oil and, if desired, wine vinegar on the surface of the soup.
- When serving, you can add an ice cube to the soup to make it very cold
Ready!!
