Gazpacho: Cooling and Full of Flavor for Souper (Soup, Salad, & Sammie) Sundays

It's another cold soup weekend. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed a warm soup even though it's been quite humid, I just ran into a time issue and needed a soup of raw (or mostly raw in this case), ingredients that I could use for our In the Raw theme for I Heart Cooking Clubs, so I tried High Fearnley-Whittingstalls Gazpacho for the River Cottage website and from River Cottage Veg Everyday.

River Cottage says, "This traditional, chilled Spanish soup is as cooling as they come: the perfect thing to serve on a hot summer’s day or a sultry evening. You can, if you like, press the puréed soup through a sieve to get a really smooth finish – but bear in mind you’ll lose some of the volume if you do this. It goes without saying that the tomatoes need to be full of flavour or you’ll be selling your soup short." 
 

Gazpacho 
Slightly Adapted from Hugh Fernley Whittingstall via RiverCottage.com
(Serves 4)

2 thick slices of stale white bread (about 100g/3.5oz), crusts removed
1 garlic clove, crushed
1–1.5kg large, ripe tomatoes (about 2 1.2 lbs 

1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped

1/2 small red onion, chopped (I used 2 shallots)
50ml extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (ideally apple balsamic) (I used Sherry Vinegar)
1 tsp sugar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to finish

croûtons

shredded basil or chopped flat-leaf parsley

  

Tear the bread into pieces and put into a bowl with the crushed garlic.

Pour on 200ml cold water and leave to soak while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Cover the tomatoes with boiling water, leave for a couple of minutes, then scoop out and peel off their skins. Quarter and deseed the tomatoes, putting all the seeds and clinging juicy bits into a sieve over a bowl. Put the skinned flesh into a separate bowl. When all the tomatoes are done, press the seedy bits in the sieve to extract as much juice as possible, adding it to the tomato flesh.

Put the soaked bread and garlic, tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar in a food processor (you should just about be able to do it in one batch). Process to a coarse purée and season with salt and pepper to taste. You can leave it chunky, or whiz a bit longer then press through a sieve, if you prefer.

Cover and chill for 2–3 hours, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve the gazpacho topped with croûtons and shredded basil or chopped parsley.

Notes/Results: This is a simple but great gazpacho with a good blend of ingredients. I've had gazpachos (there are several different ones posted on this blog) that are almost too garlicky or oniony and where the tomato gets lost in the mix but in this one the tomato comes forward, and the pepper, and the basil with the vinegar bringing a pop of bright flavor. I used sherry vinegar instead of balsamic and shallot instead of red onion, so that may have helped the overall balance--as does the pinch of sugar the recipe calls for. Some people think gazpacho is like eating a bowl of salsa, but when done right like this one, it is deliciously cooling and wonderful on a humid afternoon. It's cheating a bit for a 'raw' dish--but I didn't cook the bread or croutons and the tomatoes are just briefly topped with boiling water for east skin removal. I would definitely make this soup again. 

I'm linking up to I Heart Cooking Clubs this week where the theme is In the Raw!--Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipes using raw ingredients and this recipe mostly fits. 

We have some delicious dishes waiting this week in the Souper Sundays kitchen--let's have a look!

 

 
Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen shared Roasted Courgette-Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes and Popped Black Bean Salad and said, "We enjoyed this lightness of this roasted Zucchini and Cherry Tomato Salad.  both the courgettes and the tomatoes were subtle in lemon zing and the Tasmanian Pepper Salt flavoured Popped Black Beans were much more enjoyable this way..  This salad is more of a starter than a filling lunch or meal." 
 

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared Avocado, Tomato and Mozzarella Salad and said,  "Another thing we have been doing is eating at home more on weekends. Besides the obvious cash savings, it's healthier. We don't typically eat out during the week so weekend rides and grabbing a meal was always a treat but that's not been possible (*See weather conditions above) ... So, this is from a previous weekend but I wanted to share a simple and fairly quick meal.  A baked potato and a favorite Avocado, Tomato and Mozzarella salad from Mary Berry's cookbook."

Here at Kahakai Kitchen,  I made some little Russian open-faced appetizer sandwiches called buterbrodik for a book tour review. These are small rounds of dark rye bread, topped with anchovy butter, hard boiled egg and radish slices. Pretty and they taste great too. I think anchovey butter may be a few favorite thing.

 
Mahalo to Tina and Shaheen for joining me at Souper Sundays this week! 

Souper Sundays is back with a new format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.)

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you.

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Please mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post.
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a happy, healthy week!