Gazpacho

The cold Andalusian vegetable soup, a fresh treat for summer days.

Gazpacho, a typical dish from the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. As many ancient popular dishes from Europe, the recipe itself may change a lot according to the region and family traditions. Different ingredient list, consistency, color… Although it is mainly known for being part of the Andalusian culinary, it is hard to track the origins of the dish – gazpacho is really a common recipe in the Iberian Peninsula.

Well, that’s not a problem. Like the Spanish idiom says, de gazpacho no hay empacho: you can’t get sick from too much gazpacho. There’s never too much gazpacho!

Some cinema fans may recognize this soup as the famous drink served in Pedro Almodovár’s Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (also known as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). However, don’t worry, today’s version won’t make you feel funny and weird…

In fact, this dish is a great call for the extreme harsh summer we face here in Japan. We have some really good tomatoes in different seasons than winter, so it’s possible to serve it as an starter/entreé dish/tapa as well. This recipe calls for the ripest, reddest and plumpest tomatoes you can find. A gazpacho made from green tomatoes will probably not feel as good as one made with fresh ingredients.

Garlic, bread, olive oil, vinegar and salt… No meat, so it is also vegetarian and possibly vegan-friendly too!

1. Half onion
2. 1 cucumber
3. 4 very ripe tomatoes
4. Half bell pepper
5. 2 cloves of garlic
6. 50g of stale bread
7. 1tbsp of olive oil
8. Chilled water

1. Blanch the tomatoes in hot water and peel them.
2. Dice all the vegetables and combine in a pot.
3. Add the bread, then mix everything with your hands.
4. Adjust the consistency with chilled water.
5. Season the soup with salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar.
6. Blend the mixture using a food processor or a hand mixer until the desired consistency.
7. Cool the mixture until chilled.
8. Finally, serve the dish with bread, tomatoes and a dash of olive oil.

This recipe should be served chilled, not cold.

Although some people may not like one or two of the vegetables used (ochazuke isn’t too found of cucumbers…), feel free to reduce the quantity of some items but avoid at any cost removing them entirely.

This recipe tastes even better if made one or two days before serving the dish – you can prepare it in a large batch and store in the fridge.

Some places serve gazpacho with diced vegetables mixed in the soup.