Gazpacho to cool those hot, hot days

This Gazpacho is just perfect for a hot day when ‘cool’ is needed. It’s so refreshing, so ‘clean’.

(Modified on 3.8.2013 & 17.8.2013).

Making it in these quantities means you’ll have a good number of servings. Any left over can be kept in the fridge for use during a heat-wave, or frozen whilst you wait for the next heat-wave.

Gazpacho
dressed with diced cucumber and shreds of basil
click to enlarge

Ingredients

2 kgs tomatoes, mixed varieties, all very ripe
1 large red pepper, deseeded, pith removed, chopped
1 medium size red onion, chopped
1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
6 tbsp rich tomato sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
200ml vegetable stock (or water)
100ml extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 large clove of garlic
3 tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

To Serve

Cucumber, peeled and diced, excluding the pippy bits
Basil, shredded

You’ll need

Large bowl
Large sieve
Large spoon
Sharp pointed knife
Liquidiser or good hand held blender
Saucepan with boiling water

To Prepare

Peel the garlic, slice lengthways and lift out the core, its soul. The soul causes bitterness, the last thing you want in this soup.

Chop the garlic finely, place it in a large bowl and add the stock, red pepper, red onion, cucumber, rich tomato sauce, tomato paste, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Then attack the tomatoes. You need to skin and de-seed them, leaving only the flesh.

To do this, take a tomato, carve out its crown with a pointed knife, and make a cross with two small cuts across the bottom of each tomato. Place them, one at a time, in a bowl of boiling water, bottom up. After a few moments you’ll see the skin start to peel from the cross. Lift the tomato out and peel off all the skin. Provided the tomatoes are very ripe, this will be an easy task.

Repeat this process for all the tomatoes.

To de-seed the peeled tomatoes, first cut them into quarters. Then, using your thumb, scoop out the seeds and any loose debris into a sieve over the bowl of ingredients; the juice you’ll extract from this later will be key to the recipe. Don’t waste anything.

Set the tomato flesh aside.

Using the back of a large spoon, extract the juice from the seeds and debris into the bowl.

Finally, cut the tomato flesh into thirds and add to the bowl.

Mix everything as best you can.

Ladle the mix into a liquidiser and liquidise, but not into a fully fine liquid. Given the quantity you’ve prepared you may need to liquidise in several sessions.

Pour the final mixture into a clean bowl, give it a final stir, taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 24 hours to mature.

Serve cold from the fridge with finely chopped cucumber sprinkled on top with shreds of basil.

Scrummy.

Piers and Lin
from the Galley of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

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