It’s gazpacho season! The tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are ripening in the garden, and the weather is right for a chilled soup. One of my favorite food memories is making gazpacho in our sunny San Francisco kitchen right after Julia was born. I think I’ll always connect the flavor and aroma of gazpacho with those happy summer days.
There are probably as many recipes for gazpacho as there are kitchens in Spain, but this is the one I keep coming back to. Gazpacho can be a lot more complicated –there are recipes that include beef broth, almonds, ham, chiles, fruit specific varieties of tomato, and the like –but, for me, nothing tastes more like summer than this simple garden vegetable puree.
Just a few words of advice. All of the quantities in the recipe are approximate, except two. Until you have some experience with gazpacho, I would recommend measuring the smoked paprika and the garlic carefully: too much of either can overpower the flavors of the fresh raw vegetables. Second, try to avoid substituting regular sweet paprika for the Spanish smoked kind. It’s relatively easy to find in supermarkets (or online at www.tienda.com), and it adds a wonderful and slightly mysterious flavor. Finally, the first time at least, don’t omit the bread. It takes the edge off this dish’s acidic tendencies, and, once pureed and strained, adds a pleasing creamy texture to the soup.
Recipe
Ingredients
2 pounds ripe tomatoes
1/2 pound rustic white bread, crusts removed (may be stale)
1 large red bell pepper
1 cup chopped cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 cup chopped red onion
1 small clove of garlic, minced (if you’ve got big fat cloves, use just half)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sherry or red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
1 cup water
salt to taste
Instructions
1. Cut the tomatoes in half and then, working over a bowl, squeeze out the seeds and juice. Strain the juice into a large bowl. Roughly chop the tomato flesh and add it to the large bowl.
2. Cut off the crusts of the bread and chop or tear into approximately 1-inch chunks. Add to the bowl. Add all of the other ingredients to the bowl except the salt.
3. Toss all of the ingredients together and let them sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
4. Using a hand blender or a blender (you’ll need to blend in about three batches), puree the soup until it’s very smooth.
5. Strain the soup through a coarse sieve, forcing the liquid through with a rubber spatula. The remaining solids should be pasty, and the soup should be creamy.
6. Salt the soup to taste and serve chilled or at room temperature with a drizzle of olive oil and a garnish of a little chopped cucumber, tomato and onion, if you like.
