- 1 lb. various colored ripe tomatoes cherry, Roma or heirloom-cut into chunks about the size of a quarter
- 1/2 small red onion cut into the same size as the tomatoes
- 1 medium cucumber peeled, deseeded and cut into same size as tomatoes
- 1 jalapeno deseeded, cut into small dice
- 1 small yellow, purple, orange pepper deseeded, cut into size of tomatoes
- 5 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil good quality
- 4 cups Tomato Juice try and use low salt and a good quality tomato juice
- 1 medium cucumber deseeded
- 3 Roma tomatoes cut in half, deseeded
- 2 small garlic cloves smashed and made into a paste
- 1 small yellow, purple or orange pepper deseeded
- 1/4 small red onion cut into small dice
- 4 T red wine vinegar
- 2 pinches salt
- 3 tsp Cumin ground
- extra virgin olive oil for drizzling as a garnish
- pepper mill filled with ground pepper
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Place the first group of vegetables in a robot-coupe. Hitting pulse, gently chop the vegetables. You can hold the pulse button down for 5 seconds a few times. You want to chop all the vegetables till they are all the same size. You want to create a slurry but you want to be able to distinguish the vegetables even thou they may be small. It really is a preference but I like them to be not so chunky. (I leave that to a good salsa.) After a few pulses, remove the lid and give the mixture a stir with a spatula. Once the vegetables are pureed, place the entire contents of the robot-coupe in a container that will hold at least 2 1/2 quarts of liquid or 9 cups. It also should have a lid. To this container with the vegetables add the 5 T of olive oil and the tomato juice. Give a good stir, put the lid on and put in the refrigerator.
Get a large bowl. Take the second round of vegetables and by group julienne them into thin slices. Take these slices and cut into small dice (brunoise). You should do this with the cucumber, Roma tomatoes, and pepper. As you cut each vegetable, place it into the bowl. Add in the smashed garlic that is a paste into this mixture along with the the red onion. Remove the container from the refrigerator. Stir all of these ingredients into this. Add several cracks of ground pepper along with the Cumin and salt. Stir again and let chill for at least 6 hours. Right before service I taste for seasoning and this is when I add more salt if necessary. You could even put the serving bowls or cups into the refrigerator to give the soup an extra chill.
This recipe makes 8 cups of Gazpacho. I do not use red peppers because they tend to make the Gazpacho a little too sweet for me but feel free to use them.
This recipe is traditionally made with bread. I use 1 1/2 cups of crumbled french or Italian bread trimmed of crust. I add this after the 4 cups of tomato juice. This can be optional since so many people are gluten free these days.
As a garnish I like to use radishes cut into thin match sticks, croutons (if I am using bread in the recipe), a few hardboiled egg slices or chopped eggs on top. To one of these garnishes, I finish with a pinch of Paprika and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
If you like cilantro, feel free to add. If you like spicier add some Tabasco. Make this recipe your own if you like. I would enjoy this with a great Gewürztraminer.