My Gazpacho Recipe

There are many Gazpacho recipes, almost every cook has its own. And then you have the ingredients, likely every time you cook gazpacho it will taste a bit different. Here is my version



Slightly over 2 pounds of tomatoes—the riper and redder, the better

One cucumber—as long as your hand or smaller

One onion—plain white onion

(optional) One-half a pepper, diced—red or green, there is a family debate about which is better but they seem the same to me

2 cloves garlic—feel free to increase or decrease according to taste (but be careful, you don't want to kill all vampires that night :-)

Baguette—length of baguette the size of your hand (no breadcrumbs, sliced bread, etc.)

Olive oil—you’ll need about 2 tablespoons

Water

Vinegar—white wine vinegar works the best

Salt and pepper

1. Peel tomatoes. Easiest way to do this is to slice a small, shallow “X” across the bottom of the tomato and drop it in boiling water. Once the skin starts to separate at the X, fish the tomato out and put it in a bowl of ice water (to stop it from cooking further). When it has cooled you can peel away the skin.
2. In the meantime put the baguette in a bowl of water to soak.
3. Some people take seeds and pulp out of the tomatoes, I don't. I just Chop them and put into food processor or blender (I use the Thermomix, my best friend in the kitchen)
4. Add cucumber, onion, pepper and garlic to processor. Blend together well in processor. The smoother you can get it, the better.
5. Drain water from baguette and press remaining water out gently. Add baguette to tomato mixture in processor and blend again until smooth. Pour into bowl.

If you don’t have enough space in the processor, pour some of the tomato mixture out into a bowl. The remainder can be added and mixed in after blending.

6. Mix in olive oil.
7. Add vinegar to taste.
8. Add water to desired consistency. You shouldn’t need to add too much—a cup or two maximum, but probably less. This will of course dilute the vinegar taste a bit.
9. Add any salt and pepper as needed.
10. Chill in refrigerator before serving.

Gazpacho is often served in Spain with small bowls of fine chopped cucumber, onion, tomatoes, and bread. These can be added to individual bowls of gazpacho by the diner, as desired.

Gazpacho will keep for several days covered in the refrigerator. If the amount is too much for you, you can freeze any extra “paste” you have after Step 5 (before you put oil and vinegar). To serve, allow to thaw and continue from Step 6.

Que aproveche