SERVES 4


GAZPACHO

Cold Tomato Soup

Very simple and very refreshing on a hot day. Not that we get too many hot days were we live. Whatever happened to global warming ?
It is very easy to make an indifferent Gazpacho by not using the best ingredients. You must use Good extra virgin olive oil good sherry vinegar and ripe, sweet good flavoured tomatoes.
 

INGREDIENTS


2 1/4 Lb (1 Kg) Tomatoes
1/2 Medium Cucumber Peeled and Sliced
1 Small Onion Grated
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Green Pepper De Seeded and Sliced
2 Slices White Bread Slightly Stale
3 Dessertspoons (20 ml) Sherry Vinegar
2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Olive Oil
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
 

PREPARATION
You will need a food processor for this recipe.

Cut the crusts off the bread slices and roughly crumble it. If you only have fresh bread, not stale, then cut the crusts off as before and whiz it up in the food processor to make bread crumbs, and the take them out until later.

Sprinkle a pinch of salt on your chopping board and crush the cloves of garlic on the board with the back of a heavy knife. Keep crushing it until it becomes a paste. The salt helps as a sort of abrasive.

Slice all the vegetables, put them in your food processor and give them a good blitz.

Add the Bread crumbs and blitz the gazpacho some more.

Add the sherry vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Blitz it again.

At this point the gazpacho will still be fairly chunky, so rub about three quarters of it through a sieve to give a finer texture. Mix it back in, pour all the gazpacho into a suitable container or containers and chill in your fridge for at least 2 hours.

You can serve it in bowls as a soup, or in glasses as a drink.