Gazpacho

Chef Jose Andres says he married his wife Patricia because of this Gazpacho recipe. Since he is a great chef and just so lovely, and it's the summer, we've been having Gazpacho very often.

Another reason we love Gazpacho is because it makes a large batch and not much work.
The garnish below is recommended, but change it around to make it different each time.
If you are serving this at a party keep a large tray of the many garnish options– hard boiled eggs, jamon serrano, cucumber, shallots, cherry tomatoes, smoked cod / salmon, peppers etc and have your guests compile their soup bowls with their garnish combination. Pour cold Gazpacho over the garnish and drizzle some very good quality extra virgin olive oil and sherry vinegar.


The below recipe has been changed slightly from the original recipe– I added more garlic and added hard boiled egg to the garnish. 

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

For the Gazpacho

2 pounds ripe red tomatoes
8 ounces cucumber (about 1 large cucumber)
3 ounces green pepper (about 1/2 bell pepper)
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

For the Garnish

1 tablespoon Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
1 slice rustic white bread
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 hard-boiled eggs, yolk discarded

2 tablespoons Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
Sea salt to taste
6 leaves of basil

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut out the top of the tomatoes, and chop the tomatoes roughly into quarters. Place in the blender.
2. Peel the cucumber and cut into chunks. Add to the tomatoes in the blender. Cut the pepper in half, and remove the core along with the seeds. Again, chop into large pieces and place in the blender.
3. Add the garlic and sherry vinegar to the vegetables and blend until the mixture becomes a thick liquid. At this point the red tomatoes will turn a wonderful pink color. Taste for acidity. This will vary with the sweetness of the tomatoes. If it’s not balanced enough, add a little more vinegar. Add the olive oil and season with salt to taste. 
4. Re-blend, then pour the gazpacho through a strainer into a pitcher. Place in the fridge to cool for at least half an hour.
5. While the gazpacho is chilling, prepare the garnish. In a small pan, heat the olive oil over a medium-high flame and fry the bread until golden, about 2 minutes. Break into small pieces to form croutons and set aside.
6. To serve, place in each bowl 4 croutons, 4 cherry tomato halves, 3 cucumber cubes, and 3 onion segments. Add a few drops of olive oil to each onion segment and drizzle a little more oil around the bowl. Add a few drops of vinegar to each cucumber cube and drizzle a little more around the bowl. Sprinkle sea salt on the tomatoes, and sprinkle the chives across the bowl. Serve when the gazpacho is refreshingly chilled.

If you want to be original, buy yellow or even green tomatoes. You’ll surprise your guests. Also, if you want to save time, you can simplify the garnish immensely: just use a few cubes of cucumber, tomato, and green pepper.