Gazpacho is one of the most magnificent summer dishes. It’s packed with healthy ingredients; it’s as easy to make as running the blender; and it’s a delicious cold dish for a hot summer afternoon or evening. I decided that I wanted to take gazpacho on a picnic, so I poured it into canning jars and packed it in the cool box. I packed the garnishes in separate jars, and passed them around at the dinner. It was a hit and an easy way to serve soup from a cooler.
Easy to make ahead, gazpacho and Spanish Tortilla are perfect to pack for a picnic, or to serve at home on a hot night when you don’t want to be in the kitchen.
Buen provecho!
Sharon’s Gazpacho Andaluz, inspired from Culinaria Spain
- Generous 1 pound ripe tomatoes, skinned, and chopped
- 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped (or a seedless cucumber like English cucumber)
- 1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar (use the best quality available)
To garnish:
- Cubes of white bread
- Bell pepper, diced up small
- Diced onion
- Cubes of ham
- Peeled, seeded cucumber, diced
- Hard-cooked egg, diced
Put the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, and garlic in a blender, start blending and then slowly pour in the oil and puree the whole mixture. Season with salt and vinegar. Place the gazpacho in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour. Serve it very cold with a selection of finely diced garnishes for the top.
From Sharon’s kitchen: Andalusian gazpacho is made with a generous amount of olive oil (advice from my sister who lived in Spain) so don’t skimp on the oil. I also skip seeding the tomatoes most of the time as my blender breaks them down enough that it is an unnecessary step.
From Kimberly’s kitchen: This may depend on the blender you use and how smoothly it can break down all the ingredients, but I don’t remove the skin from the tomatoes to cut down on time.
Tomato Tips:
- Gazpacho tomatoes don’t need to be the most beautiful tomatoes at the market since they will just get blended. I save money by buying the discounted “seconds” at our farmers market.
- To prep the tomatoes for Gazpacho: cut a small x in the bottom of the tomato and drop into a pot of boiling water for about a minute. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of ice water. The skin should start to peel back from the x and then you can use a small knife to pull the rest off. Once you have a skinned tomato, cut in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Then you can chop the skinned, seeded tomato and add to the blender.