How to Make Gazpacho Andaluz
“En España podrá faltar el pan, pero el ingenio y el buen humor no se acaban”
― Ramón del Valle-Inclán
It’s been quite hot in our neck of the woods, and when our A/C went out a few days ago this soup SAVED me!! I was poking around to get a good gazpacho Andaluz recipe, so after trial and error I came up with my own. Mine has more garlic, because why not? Also, no matter what any recipe says, BREAD IS NOT OPTIONAL.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way. Let’s get started.
How to Make Gazpacho Andaluz
From start to finish (and with a good blender or food processor) it shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to make, and most of that time is spent gathering the ingredients to measure and chop. The soup comes to life in about 5 minutes in the blender. As always, the freshest ingredients yield the tastiest food!
Ingredients
4 oz. of stale bread (try a Mexican bolillo, or San Francisco sourdough)
2 lbs. of ripe vine tomatoes (red and beefy, oh yeah!)
4 cloves garlic (adjust to your taste, but I found this gave it a kick)
2 tsp salt
1 pinch of ground cumin
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil (I used the Trader Joe’s Organic Extra Virgin Unfiltered Tunisian Chetoui Olive Oil)
1/2 medium-sized onion (I used red because I love the extra oomph!)
5 tbsp sherry wine (red wine vinegar is a great substitute)
1 1/2 cups of filtered water
1 large cucumber (leave about 1/4 of it for garnish)
1 green bell pepper (leave some for garnish)
1 red pepper (yes, leave some for garnish)
Note: Some folks boil the tomatoes, peel them and then sieve them to remove the seeds and skin. I was hungry, like yesterday, so I skipped all that mess. I wanted fast, easy and NOW.
All of this goes into the blender/food processor. Unless you have one of those fancy blenders that can pulverize sheetrock, I suggest you give your mixer some help and cut the veggies before tossing them in there. It should be blended well, BUT it shouldn’t be runny. It’s more of a purée. You want to see some texture. Place into a tightly sealed vessel and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Serve in a bowl or better yet a glass.
For the garnish
Cucumber
Green Bell Pepper
Red Pepper
Toasted bread preferred; I had vegetable crackers which were DELICIOUS!
Your garnish should be roughly chopped. It gives it a nice texture and crunch. Drizzle some olive oil and enjoy!
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A brief history of Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a cold soup in Spanish cuisine specifically from the Andalusia region. The word gazpacho is said to be driven from the Arabic word for “soaked bread.” Still, if you do some research there conflicting stories on how the word gazpacho came to be, although the old dish is mentioned in Greek and Roman literature. According to Merriam-Webster, the word gazpacho didn’t appear until 1775. Spanish cookbooks usually classify gazpacho as a salad. Serve it with bread and additional diced vegetables, and it is not unusual to add a chopped egg. In Málaga, ajoblanco is a type of almond-based gazpacho with grapes.
Sources
Dodson, S. (2007, August 9). Gazpacho. Retrieved from http://languagehat.com/gazpacho/
Gazpacho. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2018, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gazpacho
Jain, P. (1998, July 20). Gazpacho. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/gazpacho
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