Summertime Gazpacho

Photography by Amy Isaacson of Playing House.

Did you know gazpacho is a colonial recipe? From Wikipedia: “There are a number of theories of its origin, including as an Arab soup of bread, olive oil, water and garlic that arrived in Spain and Portugal with the Moors, or via the Romans with the addition of vinegar. Once in Spain it became a part of Andalusian cuisine, particularly Córdoba and Seville, using stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar, similar to ajoblanco.” Get in touch with your Spanish root by making this amazing cold soup, just in time for the summer tomato harvest.

Gazpacho

Ingredients:

• 3 large, ripe tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs), cored and quartered
• 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped coarsely
• 2 cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded, and chopped coarsely (Amy’s note: dogs love cucumber seeds)
• 5 cups tomato juice
• 1 small onion, minced finely
• 1/2 cup wine vinegar (Amy’s note: I used white wine vinegar, the original recipe calls for sherry vinegar, I think red wine vinegar would be nice too)
• 2 small or 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, plus more to taste
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• Extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Pulse the tomatoes in a food processor until finely chopped, about 12 pulses. Transfer to a large bowl. Pulse the bell peppers and cucumbers until finely chopped, about 15 pulses. Add to the bowl with the tomatoes.
2. Stir in the tomato juice, onion, vinegar, garlic, Tabasco, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. Place bowls in the refrigerator to chill.
3. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into chilled bowls and sprinkle with parsley and a drizzle of olive oil (if desired) before serving.

Reprinted with permission from Amy Isaacson.