created by Bill Hettig
Prep Time: 15 mins Total Time: 2 hr, 15 min Serving Size: 4
About This Recipe
Ahhh ...Gazpacho, the silky, chilled puree of tomatoes. This soup defines the crescendo of the summer garden. It’s way beyond the mental block you may have about tasting cold soups.
Gazpacho is made with the most basic ingredients: vine ripened tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, then spun into a velvety back-of-the-throat refresher using moistened bread and fruity olive oil.
It’s a rich tapestry woven from common threads. With pre-made salsa starter you are minutes from enjoying a famed soup...in the salmorejo style developed in the south of Spain.
Ingredients - the quality of the results is tied to the tomatoes. If you can’t use vine ripened beauties, use a tomato-vegetable juice and thin to a loose pancake batter consistency.
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½ cup artisan bread, stale, crusts removed, in large chunks
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½ lb ripe tomatoes
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⅔ cup cucumbers, peeled, seeded, chunked
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2 cups Lone Star Salsa starter
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2 tsp. soy sauce
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3 TBS. olive oil, high quality
Directions
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Place bread chunks in a bowl; soak in water for a minute. Squeeze out water and add to a blender jar.
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Prep remaining ingredients and add to the blender jar; puree for a few minutes. You may need to blend in a couple of batches.
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Refrigerate for a couple of hours to develop flavor. Serve cold
Serving Suggestions:
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For a Mesoamerican style serve in soup bowls topped with grilled shrimp.
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In the Spanish cordobes style the soup is garnished with wedges of hard-cooked eggs and strips of cured ham, such as jamon or prosciutto.
- Reintroduce the bread by garnishing with homemade croutons made from stale bread, basted with baking oil and baked at 350 degrees for 4-5 minutes.