Gazpacho Andaluz

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Blender with at least 1.5 litre capacity
• •Fine sieve or chinois
• •Large jug with lid
• •Ladle or flexible spatula

Instructions

1. 1

   Taste the tomatoes

   Taste a piece of tomato before you begin. If it is heavy, sweet, and good enough to eat with salt, carry on. If it tastes pale, stop here; no blender fixes a sad tomato. Core and roughly chop the tomatoes, then put them in a blender or a large bowl if you need to work in batches.

   Out of season, don't bully this dish. In Andalucía, make espinacas con garbanzos, chickpeas with spinach and cumin, and wait for tomatoes that deserve to be eaten raw.
2. 2

   Add the vegetables

   Add the chopped green pepper, cucumber, garlic, bread, salt, and sherry vinegar to the tomatoes. Let everything sit for 10 minutes so the salt draws out the tomato juice and the bread softens. If your bread is very hard, splash it with 50ml cold water first, then squeeze it lightly before adding it.

   One small garlic clove is enough raw. If the clove has a green shoot inside, remove it; that little germ tastes sharp in a cold soup.
3. 3

   Blend completely smooth

   Blend on high until the mixture is completely smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Let the machine do the work; this is not a chopped salad. The bread should disappear, the skins should break down, and the colour should turn even and bright red.

4. 4

   Emulsify the oil

   With the blender running, pour in the olive oil slowly in a thin stream, taking about 45 seconds. This slow pour is what makes the gazpacho silky and a little paler, instead of thin with oil floating on top. Pésalo, no lo adivines: the oil gives body, but too much makes it heavy.

5. 5

   Sieve and thin

   Pass the gazpacho through a fine sieve into a jug, pressing with a ladle to take all the good liquid and leave the rough skins and seeds behind. Thin with cold water, 50ml at a time, only until it pours like light cream. It should be drinkable, not watery.

   No fine sieve? Blend a little longer and accept a more rustic texture. A home gazpacho can have a little body, but it should never feel gritty.
6. 6

   Chill and serve

   Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, longer if you can. Taste it cold, because cold dulls both salt and vinegar, then adjust with a pinch more salt or a small spoon of sherry vinegar. Serve in chilled glasses or bowls with a thread of olive oil and, if you like, a few tiny diced vegetables on top.

Chef Tips

• •Make gazpacho only in tomato season, when the tomatoes are heavy, fragrant, and worth eating raw. A winter tomato gives you pink water. That is not your fault, but it is still your lunch.
• •Use pimiento verde italiano if you can find it, the long thin green frying pepper used in many Spanish kitchens. A Cubanelle is the best substitute abroad. If all you have is a green bell pepper, use half the amount; it is thicker and more grassy.
• •Vinagre de Jerez, sherry vinegar, gives the right Andalusian backbone. If you cannot find it, use a good red wine vinegar and start with 20ml, because it can bite harder and lacks the roundness of Jerez.
• •Do not add ice to the blender to make up for poor chilling. It waters the whole jug down. Chill the gazpacho hard in the refrigerator and serve it in cold glasses.
• •Make it several hours ahead. The flavour settles, the garlic calms down, and the texture turns smoother. Stir well before serving and taste again cold.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the gazpacho 4 to 24 hours ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator. It should be served very cold.
• •The diced vegetable garnish can be cut up to 4 hours ahead and kept covered and cold.
• •Leftovers keep 2 days in the refrigerator. Stir before serving and re-taste for salt and vinegar, since the cold flattens both.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)