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You Say Tomato; I Say Gazpacho
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Let’s cool the soup course off. Nothing’s better at doing just that than Spain’s classic hot-weather refresher, gazpacho, a soup that’s meant to quench thirst and nourish in one convenient chilled bowl.
That gazpacho is always served cold is about the only thing all recipes for the dish have in common. Seeing as this soup has been popular since Roman times, it’s understandable that a few adaptations have occurred here and there, depending on available ingredients and new culinary discoveries. For instance, the European debut of the tomato (post 1492, when Columbus returned with this and other garden-variety wonders of the New World) changed the traditional stale bread soup into its more popular form as a kind of “salad soup.”
The traditional version of tomato gazpacho still calls for a base of stale bread soaked in water, then ground into a paste with garlic, salt and olive oil. Tomatoes and other vegetables are added: diced, crushed or pureed, creating whichever texture you like, and there’s always a healthy splash of red wine vinegar.
Many modern versions of gazpacho call for finely chopped vegetables stirred into tomato juice. For me, this addition detracts from the very idea of the soup. Tomato juice always tastes canned. Gazpacho, as an uncooked dish, should only be made from the ripest in-season homegrown or farm stand tomatoes. When you puree those juicy summer beauties, there’s almost never a need to add additional liquid, other than the olive oil and vinegar for flavor. But just in case, you can always leave the bread out of it and serve some nice crunchy garlic-rubbed toasts on the side.
The recipe that follows is a great gazpacho for beginners. Once you try this, you can decide if you’d like to thicken it with bread, add some garlic or onion, toss in some herbs, dice up a garnish. It’s best if you can make it up the day before to let the flavors blend, or give it at least an hour or two to chill, though it will taste good right away. Gazpacho is a very forgiving soup. No wonder it’s been able to endure so many differences.
Gazpacho
For gazpacho with a little crunch, serve with diced tomatoes, cucumbers and red peppers, or some crostini on the side.
3 pounds tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
1 seedless cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 red bell peppers, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and refrigerate overnight.
In a blender, puree the vegetables until smooth. Strain the soup into a deep bowl, season with salt and pepper, and serve.
Recipe by Chef www.foodandwine.com
Editor’s Note: Angela Denstad Stigeler writes a food column each week for the Caledonia Argus. She, her husband and their two young children live in Caledonia.
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