This crunchy, floating salad, one of many versions of the celebrated Spanish soup, is incomparable on a hot day.
ingredients
serves: 4 - 6
1 thick slice dry-textured bread
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika, or hot or sweet Spanish paprika (Pimenton)
1 pound 5 ounce canned chopped tomatoes in natural juice
1 red onion
4 large cloves garlic
1 large cucumber
1 each, medium red, yellow and green peppers
1 fresh or dried red chilli, or 1 fresh green chilli
6 large basil and/or mint leaves
1 1/4 cups ice-cold water
12 ice cubes (if required)
To garnish:
1 clove garlic, a little olive oil and 3 slices of bread for croutons, optional
method
1. Discard the crusts from the bread, then put it into a food processor and make it into crumbs.
2. Put the oil into a large serving bowl and whisk in the vinegar and salt to make a creamy emulsion. Add the paprika or Pimenton and the breadcrumbs and stir until thoroughly combined and sloppy
3. Stir the tomatoes and their juice into the mixture then set it aside.
4. Peel the onion, garlic and cucumber. Rinse, halve and deseed the peppers and the chilli, then cut them into quarters.
5. In a food processor, coarsely chop the onion and garlic together and add them to the breadcrumb mixture. One by one, coarsely chop the cucumber, peppers and chilli and add them to the soup.
6. Rinse, dry and tear the basil or mint leaves into small pieces and add them. Stir well, taste and season generously with salt and black pepper. The flavour should be sharp and refreshing, with plenty of bite.
7. Stir in enough ice-cold water to give the mixture a soup-like consistency, but do not make it too thin: the texture should be quite dense. Leave to chill, or stir in the ice cubes and serve immediately
8. To make croutons, put the garlic into a skillet with a little oil, over a moderate heat. Cut the bread into cubes and fry, turning often, until browned. Discard the garlic; serve the croutons with the soup. Variation
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more information
Put some vodka into the freezer before making the gazpacho, then add 1-2 tablespoons to each bowl just before serving.
