Gazpacho

I tasted gazpacho at a friend’s place couple of years back and ever since then, I’ve been anxious to prepare this once at home. “Couple of years” !!! Yes, I know it is a long time. This was in my “to do” list for a while. And recently I found an easy recipe. This recipe is inspired by one of my favorite person, Martha Stewart. If I knew it is so simple to prepare gazpacho, may be I would have tried it more earlier.

Gazpacho reminds me of a Smoothie. What is a smoothie?  Fruits blended together is a smoothie.. There are vegetable smoothies. But this recipe is not a smoothie..Technically we could call it a vegan soup.. or probably a blended salad.

I think I am making it sound more complicated. Let me put in simple words. This is a nice, refreshing summer soup. Now let us go into the recipe.

You need,

• White bread pieces, without crusts – 1 cup
• Garlic – 1 clove finely grated or minced
• Apple cider vinegar – 2 tbsp. (The original recipe asked to use red wine vinegar)
• Cold water  – 3/4 cup
• Salad Cucumber, cleaned and washed- 5 nos, peeled seeded and cubed (Recipe says 1/2 English cucumber)
• Red bell pepper, cleaned and washed – 2 medium, seeded and cubed
• Fleshy Tomatoes, cleaned and washed – 1 kg (Recipe says beefsteak tomatoes)
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp
• Salt – 1.5 teaspoon
• Pepper freshly ground to taste

You have to

• Take a medium size glass bowl. Add  garlic, vinegar, and  cold water
• Stir this and leave aside 
• Mince cucumber, peppers, and bread mixture in a blender until smooth. 
• Transfer to another large glass bowl. 
• Divide the tomatoes in to 2 or 3 portions and puree one portion at a time .
• Transfer this to the cucumber puree bowl 
• While pureeing the last portion of tomatoes, slowly add olive oil while blender is running.
• Transfer to the cucumber puree bowl. Add in the vinegar mixture and whisk the whole to combine. 
• You could sieve in a large strainer to extract the finest juice at this stage. But it is not mandatory.
• Season with and pepper. 
• Chill until served.
• Serve in tiny glasses with cucumber sticks