The Best Gazpacho Recipe

This is the best gazpacho recipe. I’m not even going to attempt to play it down. To say I love gazpacho would be an understatement, I could drink this every day and never get bored. It’s the perfect light meal or starter for Summer, because it’s refreshing and restorative and you can almost feel the goodness as you drink it. It’s exactly what you need on a hot day when you don’t have the energy or the appetite for a full-on meal.

What is gazpacho?

It’s a healthy, refreshing raw vegetable soup from Andalusia which it is consumed all over Spain and the world. Now, I’m aware that ‘cold soup’ it sounds a bit dull, but the absolute key to making this delicious recipe is in the quality of the ingredients and balancing the salt, vinegar and olive oil with the vegetables. A bit like you would do in a salad with the dressing. If you get the balance just right, you will reach something close to culinary Nirvana.

There are many variations on gazpacho, some with strawberries or watermelon even which are also very good. But I prefer this traditional gazpacho recipe because its authentic flavours are hard to beat.

The Tomatoes need to be ripe but still a bit firm. I often struggle to find tomatoes in England that have any flavour. They’re always a far cry from the ones you can buy in Spain. But I’ve found, the best way to get more flavour out of your tomatoes is to leave them out of the fridge (kills any flavour) at room temperature, in a bowl or a paper bag for a couple of days before eating them, to let the fruit finish ripening. This will hugely improve their taste for any dish or salad you use them in, trust me on this!

The Peppers – In Spain they use bell peppers, but you could also use Romano peppers as an alternative. Traditionally, the recipe would have one red and one green bell pepper, but I find that two red peppers give the gazpacho a more attractive red colour which you usually can’t get from the tomatoes alone.

The Olive Oil – There are so many types of olive oil, that it can become confusing. This is because, a bit like with grapes, there are lots of varieties of olive. Some have a lighter nuttier flavour and others have a slight bitterness that adds a wonderful flavour to dishes and salads. For this gazpacho recipe I like to use a Spanish extra virgin olive oil because it has a slightly lower acidity and adds a wonderful richness to the soup.

The Blender – You need a blender powerful enough to break down all the fibres in the vegetables and leave you with a wonderfully smooth-textured soup. The best blenders for this are the high speed smoothie or soup makers. This one is perfect for the task, with a neat ‘little’ 1.1 horsepower motor and a maximum speed of 23,000 RPM, this sturdy blender can also crush ice with its hardened blades, so you can make cocktails!

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Gazpacho Nutrition

This gazpacho is not only delicious but also has some great nutritional benefits. It’s very low in calories, because it’s mainly vegetables and especially if you leave out the bread – although this is a good source of carbohydrate to keep you full, if you’re making the gazpacho as a light dinner or lunch.

I prefer my gazpacho with bits because I like the texture but it’s also a great source of fibre from the vegetables. But it can also be made beautifully smooth and almost creamy by passing it through a fine sieve after blending. Just remember to mix the soup well before serving as it may separate slightly while it chills in the fridge.

As the ingredients are raw, gazpacho is a fantastic source of vitamins A, C and E, minerals (phosphorus, iron and calcium) and plenty of antioxidants from. If you keep the salt on the low side, it’s also fantastic for anyone with high cholesterol or high blood pressure. The high water content will also keep you hydrated. It’s essentially your ‘5 a day’ in a glass. What’s not to like?

This recipe makes enough for 2 people or 4 people as a starter.

Takes 10-15 mins prep time plus 1 hour in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• 4 large vine ripened tomatoes
• 2 red peppers, deseeded
• Half a cucumber, peeled
• 1/4 red onion
• 1 medium-large garlic clove, peeled
• 1/2 small glass of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 small glass of Spanish sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
• Salt to taste
• Slice of stale crusty bread (optional)

Method:

1. Crumble the slice of bread into your blender and pour in the olive oil and vinegar to allow the bread to soften.
2. Peel and chop the garlic, onion and add to the blender with the bread that’s soaking.
3. Roughly chop and add the remaining ingredients and add them to the blender together with a good pinch of salt. Here, if you like, you can reserve aside a small amount of tomato, cucumber and pepper, finely diced, to top your finished dish. It allows people to see what’s in the dish and also adds a bit of crunch.
4. Blend well on maximum for a good minute or until the gazpacho looks smooth. If it’s too thick, add some cold water to loosen it to the texture you want.
5. At this point taste your gazpacho, adjust the salt/vinegar to your liking and quickly blend one more time to mix well.
6. Now pour your gazpacho into a glass jug or a bottle and leave it in the fridge for an hour so the flavours can mingle. This step is important to get the right flavour for your gazpacho.
7. Once chilled, shake or stir your gazpacho to ensure it’s well mixed.
8. You can serve your gazpacho in soup bowls or in glasses, if you prefer it as a drink, or you can pour into small shot glasses as a palate cleanser in between courses. It goes incredibly well simply with some toasted rustic bread for dunking.

Try making this recipe and let me know if you like it!