Gazpacho de Sandía

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Blender, at least 1.5 litre capacity
• •Fine sieve or chinois
• •Digital scale
• •Chilled glasses or small bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the fruit

   Use watermelon that is heavy, sweet-smelling, and dead ripe, and tomatoes you would happily eat raw with salt. Cut away the rind, remove any black seeds, and weigh 700g of flesh. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Too much melon makes the gazpacho sweet and thin; the tomato must still have its say.

   If the watermelon is watery rather than sweet, do not try to repair it with sugar. Save it for eating cold and make a plain gazpacho Andaluz when the tomatoes are good.
2. 2

   Soften the bread

   Put the bread in a small bowl and wet it with 3 tablespoons of the tomato juice that collects on the board, or with a little cold water. Let it sit 5 minutes, then squeeze it lightly. The bread gives body, so the soup pours like gazpacho and not like strained melon.

3. 3

   Blend the base

   Put the watermelon, tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, garlic, soaked bread, sherry vinegar, and salt into a blender. Blend for 2 full minutes, until the mixture is smooth and the pepper skin has disappeared into the soup. Taste now, but remember it will need its final judgment cold.

4. 4

   Emulsify the oil

   With the blender running, pour in the olive oil slowly in a thin stream. This is the step that decides the texture. The oil must join the tomato and melon instead of floating on top, and the gazpacho should turn glossy, slightly paler, and silky. If it is too thick for drinking, loosen it with 2 to 4 tablespoons of cold water, no more.

5. 5

   Strain and chill

   Pass the gazpacho through a fine sieve if you want it smooth enough for glasses, pressing gently with a ladle. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, longer if you can. A warm gazpacho de sandía tastes confused; cold gives it shape.

6. 6

   Taste cold

   Taste it straight from the refrigerator and adjust with a pinch of salt or a small spoon of sherry vinegar. Cold dulls both. The flavor should be tomato first, then sweet melon, then vinegar and garlic at the edge. Serve in chilled glasses or small bowls with a thread of olive oil and a few tiny dice of cucumber and green pepper.

Chef Tips

• •Make it only in high summer, when both tomatoes and watermelon are worth eating raw. If the market gives you poor fruit, Andalucía has other cold bowls to wait with: ajoblanco, the white almond and garlic gazpacho, does not depend on tomatoes.
• •Use vinagre de Jerez, sherry vinegar. It gives the clean acidity this soup needs against the melon. If you only have a mild wine vinegar, start with 35ml, chill the soup, then add more until it wakes up.
• •Do not add sugar. Good sandía already has enough sweetness, and sugar pushes the soup toward dessert. Salt, vinegar, garlic, and olive oil are what bring it back to the table.
• •For a cook far from Spain, a firm English cucumber is fine, but peel it and remove any large watery seeds. If you cannot find a long green Italian pepper, use a mild green bell pepper and keep the amount to 80g so it does not take over.
• •Serve it from the refrigerator, not over ice. Ice melts and thins the seasoning you just got right. Chill the glasses instead.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the gazpacho 2 to 8 hours ahead so it can chill hard and settle. Stir well before serving, then taste again for salt and vinegar.
• •It keeps covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The watermelon may separate a little, so shake or whisk it back together before pouring.
• •Dice the cucumber and pepper garnish up to 4 hours ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator. Add it only at the end so it stays crisp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 270g)