Spicy Tomato Soup (Gazpacho)

Spanish

Type of Dish Soup

Ingredients

  • 6 large tomatoes (chopped)
  • 1 red onion(chopped)
  • 2 green bell pepper (chopped)
  • 2 red bell pepper (chopped)
  • 2 red chili (chopped)
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 2 small cucumber (chopped)
  • 2 spring onions (chopped)
  • 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
  • 45 ml (3 Tbsp) fresh lemon juice
  • 30 ml 30ml (2 Tbsp) red wine vinegar
  • 6 fresh basil leaves (chopped)
  • 1/4 bunch fresh parsley (chopped)
  • 75 ml (5 Tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 slices dry white bread
  • 1 dash Tabasco sauce
  • to taste sea salt
  • to taste pepper to taste

Preparation

  1. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper and leave at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.
  2. In a blender or food processor, Blend all ingredients together until well combined. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Choosing quality vegetables will determine how good this soup will be, tomatoes should be ripe and sweet, basil and parsley should be very fresh. Generally if put quality into this soup, then of course it will come through in the result. If you like you can leave this soup a bit course. I prefer to pass it through a course conical sieve.
  3. If the soup is too thick you could add a little mineral water or tomato juice. Avoid cheap tomato juice with preservatives etc as this would detract from the beauty of what you’ve got so far. If the tomatoes are not ripe enough you could add a pinch of sugar. Some folk whisk in a small amount of mayonnaise to the soup at the end. This not traditional but does taste good and changes the texture slightly. You can also make yellow gazpacho my using same recipe as above but use plenty of yellow bell peppers and remove the red ingredients.
  4. If you would like to try gazpacho consommé then make the same recipe as above but don't put bread and olive oil. Wrap the gazpacho puree in cheesecloth, tie it up with a string to form a parcel, place it in a colander with a bowl underneath. Put a weight on top a large tin can will do. Put this in the fridge and leave overnight to drip. The next day you will have a clear liquid with the gazpacho taste. This is not traditional by the way. Check the seasoning and adjust if need be with salt, a drop of lemon juice and a dash of Tabasco. Serve in shot glasses or set it as a jelly and serve with boiled prawns.

Further Information

Yield 4

Preparation Time is approxmiately 40 minutes.

Rating:
88
5 votes
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