Gazpacho

I love Gazpacho in the summer time!  Such a cool and refreshing meal (yes, soup is a meal!) and it’s super-quick and easy to make.  We made it for dinner one evening and then took the rest on a picnic the next day, kept chilled in a thermos.  Makes any picnic a gourmet picnic for such little effort :-)

This could be served as a light main meal, or as an entree depending on your serving size (and your appetite size).

(I was reminded of this recipe tonight by a question at our weekly trivia night (the hostess being the fabulous Portia Turbo (who wasn’t actually the hostess tonight, but that’s another story) who has her own blog here.)  And while I’m plugging other people’s blogs, check out my very talented hubby Darryn’s blog here.)

Gazpacho

Serves 6

• 1kg cherry tomatoes (red or yellow), halved (we used red)
• 1 lebanese cucumber, roughly chopped (I imagine you could use regular cucumber too)
• 1 red capsicum, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 thick slices good italian style white bread (we used Ciabatta)
• 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• optional garnish – diced avocado, red capsicum or cucumber; basil leaves (we didn’t use any garnishes, because we’re lazy :-))

Place tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum, garlic and onion in a large mixing bowl.  Discard crusts from bread, then chop bread and add it to bowl.  Stir in 375ml cold water.  Transfer mixture to a food processor or blender and pulse until mixture is roughly combined and still slightly chunky (you may need to do this in batches).  Add a little extra water if necessary.  Chill for at least 5 hours, or preferably overnight, to allow flavours to develop.  Just before serving, stir in vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with a good drizzle of olive oil, and garnishes, if desired.

We served it with a slice of toasted Ciabatta on the side, with a slathering of ‘futter’ faux-butter (see here for the recipe for futter).

Source: The Weekend Australian Magazine December 11-12 2010