The famous chilled soup gazpacho is ideally suited to the heat of the Andalucian summer. It is made from breadcrumbs and pureed summer vegetables, usually tomatoes, cucumber, and peppers and flavored with garlic, vinegar, olive oil and seasoning. Traditionally ground with a pestle and mortar and left to chill in the cellar, today the hand blender and refrigerator makes life that bit easier. The oil gives the soup a thick creamy texture, and the gazpacho is commonly eaten with toasted bread. A variation on the gazpacho is solmorejo from Cordoba, another chilled soup where diced tomatoes is the sole vegetable used. Ajo blanco is another cold soup from Malaga which is made from breadcrumbs pureed garlic, oil vinegar and seasoning.
Below is an easy receipe on how to make Gazpacho:
1 lb. ripe tomatoes or 1 lg. can tomatoes
1 med. onion, peeled
1 cucumber, peeled, halved and seeded
1/2 lg. green pepper, seeded
1 clove garlic, seeded and crushed
1 c. tomato juice
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne pepper
Cut tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, green pepper into chunks. Put in blender or food processor with garlic and tomato juice a portion at a time. Add lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste. Stir. Add 4 ice cubes to chill down or refrigerate until chilled. Serve.
Here is a small vocabulary usefull for shopping if you want to make Gazpacho:
Pepino cucumber |
Pimientos Peppers |
Zumo de tomate
Tomato Juice |
Pimienta Pepper (As In Peppercorns) |
Tomate Tomato |
Verde
Green |
Limón
Lemon |
Aceite de olives
Olive oil |
Cebolla Onion |
Ajo Garlic |
Sal
Salt |
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