Gazpacho
A straightforward Gazpacho, originally by the Barefoot Contessa, I like to jam as many colors into it as possible and so I go for yellow and orange bell peppers. This is scaled back to half the original recipe, the full recipe has always been way too much for my small households (1-3 people). Even at this quantity it made a couple meals for the two of us (the pre-schooler isn't into it). Olive bread completes the meal.
Ingredients
- 1 hothouse/English cucumber sliced in half lengthwise and seeded
- 2 small orange and yellow bell peppers or colour of your choice cored and seeded
- 4 plum tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 24 ounces (700ml) tomato juice or passata 3 us cups
- ¼ cup (60ml) white wine vinegar
- ¼ cup (60ml) good olive oil
- ½ tablespoon kosher or flakey sea salt Use half this amount is using fine grain or table salt
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper optional
Instructions
- Each vegetable is going into the food processor, it's important to process them separately because some are firmer than others. With that in mind, chop each into somewhat uniform hunks your food processor will handle.
- Process each vegetable (type) one at a time, adding it to your big bowl. I enjoy watching the layers build a rainbow here.
- Add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix all the ingredients, cover, and chill. I let it rest at least a few hours if not overnight.
Notes
Because this is a raw dish, the quality of thee ingredients is critical, aim for Spanish olive oil, a Spanish sherry or good white wine vinegar (I've used a champagne vinegar, it was worth it, a cava one would be clever keeping on the Spanish theme), and opt for the tastiest, tomato-iest tomato juice you can find.