Summertime and the Gazpacho is Eaaaassssy

About 11 years ago my dear friend Melisse brought me back this Gazpacho dish from her visit to Spain. She was near the end of her trip and the shop she bought it from didn’t offer shipping so she lugged it through the rest of her travels to fly home with it as a carry on. One of the coolest, most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. The girl must have totally understood my obsession with Gazpacho. Every summer I make Gazpacho and put it in this special dish and I call or text to thank her.

So I thought I’d share my favorite easy Gazpacho recipe.  I’ve tried many different versions and this is super simple and doesn’t rely on store bought tomato juice.

Serve with quickly seared shrimp skewers for a full meal.  Oh, and if one of your diners thinks they don’t like cold soup, put out some tortilla chips and watch them dig in!

Easy Gazpacho Recipe

Ingredients:

2 inch piece baguette, crust discarded

2 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons salt

2 Tablespoons Sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar works too)

1 teaspoon sugar

2 1/2 Ripe tomatoes, cored + quartered

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

english cucumber, very small dice

yellow or orange bell pepper, very small dice

goat cheese, crumbled

Ready, Set, Cook! 

Soak bread in 1/2 cup water for a minute, then squeeze dry, discarding extra water.

Mash garlic + salt into a paste using a pestle + morter (or if you don’t have one, just mince garlic with salt, using your knife to really squish and turn it into a paste).

Place in a blender the garlic/salt paste, bread, vinegar, sugar, and tomatoes.  Next, with the motor running, gradually add extra virgin olive oil in a slow stream, blending until as smooth as possible.  About 1 minute.

Transfer to a glass bowl and chill, covered, until cold, about 3 hours.

To serve, garnish with diced cucumber, bell pepper + goat cheese.

Enjoy!

XO,

Your Sus Chef

(adapted from a recipe found on epicurious.com)