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Sunday 14 July 2013

Gazpacho


So the weather finally seems to have sorted itself out, and everyone seems to be pretty happy about it. Truth be told though, I’m not really much of a summer person. I spend most sunny days searching out shade, repeatedly sunscreening and running away from wasps. But the incredible abundance of delicious, seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables makes it all worthwhile.

Gazpacho, a simple, cold, tomatoey soup, is one of my absolute favourite things about the summer – seriously. There are many different ways to make it, and this is how I make mine.

Ingredients:

500g passata (1 carton)
6 large tomatoes
1 red pepper
½ small white onion
1 cucumber
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sherry vinegar (or cider vinegar if you don’t have it)
½ tbsp lemon juice – more depending on how acidic you like it.
Salt and pepper

Toppings and additions:

Delicately diced vegetables like tomato, cucumber, yellow pepper, red onion, spring onion.
Crunchy things like toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, garlic croutons, crunchy fried onions.

Method:

Boil the kettle. Use a sharp knife to score the skin of the tomatoes, and place them in a bowl with hot water from the kettle for about 5 minutes to blanch. Peel the skins from the tomatoes when they are cool enough to handle.

Roughly dice all of the vegetables and place in a big bowl with the passata. Fill the empty passata carton about halfway full with cold water and add that to the bowl too.

Use a hand/immersion blender to blend everything together. I don’t like using a food processor or blender because I think it pulverises everything much too fine – I prefer it with a bit of texture. Apparently blending it totally smooth also destroys a lot of the fibre in the vegetables, so all in all it is better to use a hand-blender.

Add in the olive oil, vinegar, lemon, salt and pepper, stir well and taste. Adjust seasoning if needed and add a little more water if it is too thick.

The soup needs a little bit of time for the flavours to develop, so leave for a few hours, or preferably a day before serving with a selection of fresh and crunchy toppings.


2 comments:

  1. Great recipe will give it a go.

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    Replies
    1. thank you!! Hope you are enjoying the summer xo

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