Gazpacho Soup Day

If you ever watched the old BBC comedy Red Dwarf, the mere mention of Gazpacho Soup may conjurer memories of one of the characters embarrassing experience in asking a waiter to heat his up much to the amusement of his dining companions. You see, Gazpacho soup is  traditionally served cold as a refreshing summer soup, usually a starter before the main meal.

Apart from mentions in British comedy shows, I had never come across it until recently when I decided to give it a go myself. My partner had his wisdom teeth removed and aside from not being able to eat solid foods, he also wasn’t allowed to eat anything heated, so this seemed the perfect meal for his return from hospital.

Have you tried it? The soup itself is easy as long as you have a decent blender or food processor. As it is served cold there is no real cooking required. Just prepare the veggies and blend! The flavours are tangy and slightly spicy and super refreshing! I was a little hesitant (I mean it has soggy bread in it!?) but  it really was a pleasant surprise. My boyfriend enjoyed it too which was lucky considering that’s all he could eat for a 24 hour period…

 What You Need:

A slice of day-old bread
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1kg of ripe tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled
1 green capsicum
1 large red onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup of olive oil
Croutons and chopped parsley to garnish

What You Do:

1. Place the bread and the red wine vinegar in a shallow bowl. Add 1/4 cup of water and set aside while you prepare the vegetables.

2. Remove seeds from the tomatoes, cucumber and capsicum and roughly chop.  Toss the vegetables along with the onion and garlic with the olive oil in  a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Blend using a stick blender or a food processor until smooth. Blend in bread. Pass through a sieve into a bowl and discard the leftover pulp.

4. Serve chilled or add ice cubes just before serving. Garnish with croutons and parsley.