Today I bring you the easiest and most refreshing chilled soup you will ever find, the world-famous gazpacho. In case you live under a rock, gazpacho is a raw tomato-based blended soup that is served cold and it is typical from the South of Spain, but nowadays it’s so common that it has become a staple of the Spanish cuisine. The very basic description might not seem appealing, but it is one of those things that you need to try to have your own opinion. It is budget-friendly, simple to make, very healthy and nutritious. It also serves so well its purpose of cooling your body down, especially when it is hot (for UK standards) and you just crave something cold to eat. You can have it as a tapa, as a starter or as a side. Your pick!
BACKGROUND
Since the Roman times, people in the Mediterranean Basin have been eating a version of a bread and garlic soup. Tomatoes were added in the 19th century, when tomatoes and other vegetables from the Americas stopped being demonised and embraced by the neophobic Europeans.
There are a few similar recipes by name or ingredients so I wanted to clarify things:
- Ajoblanco; blended chilled soup from Granada and Malaga. Mainly made of bread and garlic, therefore the name blanco, which means white.
- Salmorejo; tomato and garlic blended chilled soup, but no bell pepper or cucumber. More famous from Cordoba, it is bread and garlic heavy, so it is thicker than gazpacho. Some might say that this has bread whereas gazpacho doesn’t. Sometimes topped with serrano ham trimmings and boiled egg.
- Gazpachos manchegos; this has absolutely nothing to do with gazpacho, but the name makes it confusing. This is a flat-bread pieces paella-style recipe typical from Castilla-La Mancha. See my widowed gazpachos recipe.
PLANT POWER, MAKE UP!
Guess what? Gazpacho is already a vegan recipe! Nevertheless, when a recipe is this simple, the quality of the ingredients is paramount to make a good gazpacho. These are my watch-outs:
- The tomatoes MUST be very red and ripe, soft to the touch. If you buy those water-taste salad tomatoes, with that unappealing closer-to-brown colour instead of red, the gazpacho will be so bland. Buying produce is an experience and you should use all your senses. Do the tomatoes smell good? Most tomatoes nowadays in the UK don’t smell or taste like anything. Steer clear of those and look for quality tomatoes. They are the base of this soup and they must be good ones and very ripe.
- Buy organic if you can. It will have less pesticides or none. Additionally, plants that are not treated with pesticides seem to have more antioxidants. Plants produce antioxidants to protect themselves against insects and other diseases, so if they are protected by pesticides, they won’t produce as many antioxidants because they don’t need them. But we want that wonderful lycopene, which is a carotenoid from the tomatoes which helps us fight toxic substances and it is associated with a decreased risk of chronic diseases like cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
- Use extra virgin olive oil, because it has some antioxidants and vitamins E and K, which will remain in the gazpacho since we are not cooking it.
- Bread or no bread? That is the question. Some recipes call for the use of stale bread, but I have never used bread in my gazpacho. I read some other comments from Andalusians saying they wouldn’t. It’s confusing because as we said, the soup origin was a bread and garlic soup. I personally don’t need the extra calories from bread and I’d rather have some croutons on top to add texture. If you want to or you have stale bread at home, you can add it and see what you like best.
- Onion or no onion? Another one. Some recipes say yes, some others no. I don’t use it and I think it may overwhelm the soup. Our main guy here is the tomato and the other ingredients are there to enhance flavours, not to steal the tomato’s spotlight. I have also read that onion ferments so this would spoil the soup at a faster rate in the fridge.
- Peel or no peel? Some people peel the tomatoes and the bell pepper, saying that they find those peels in the soup. Well, if I’m choosing to make an easy soup and I have to peel all of that, it defeats the purpose. Plus, on the skin you normally get more vitamins and the tomatoes skins gives the soup a more intense red colour. I do peel the cucumber because I don’t like it and it makes the cucumber flavour milder. I don’t peel the other vegetables and I’m happy with the final results, but if you find peelings too, you can always sieve the soup after blending.
GAZPACHO (CHILLED TOMATO SOUP)
Serves: 5 people
Prep: 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 big cucumber, peeled and chopped in chunks
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 small green bell peppers or 1 big, deseeded
1.5kg tomatoes, which is around 10 tomatoes (must be very red and ripe)
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Croutons to serve (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning or water if needed.
- You may sieve the soup if you like, in case there are any bits of vegetable skin left. I personally don’t and I’m happy with the results.
- Put in an airtight container and keep in the fridge until very cold to let the flavours settle. Gazpacho must be served cold and although freshly made is preferable, it keeps well for up to 5 days in the fridge.
You may serve it with croutons.
Bon profit!