Gazpacho is the most addictive Spanish tomato soup with garlic, bread, and cucumbers. If you’re looking for cold soups full of flavor, this is your new favorite summer recipe!
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I know some of you will literally shiver when you read the title, since you’re buried in snow or the weather is minus something x 2, or similar, and might not even make it to the recipe, but I had to take a few liberties from what I read about this Sunday Supper event, ‘what could be better on a cold winter day than soup? Share a soup recipe to warm up with on a chilly day or any time of the year’.
I clearly choose those last five words as a guide, because it was so.darn.hot when I decided what soup to make.
On Wednesday, the actual day I went into the kitchen, chopped and took the pictures, it was actually cool and almost windy, with cloudy skies and a feeling of a sad winter day. And it continued for two more days. I could do with a split pea soup if you ask me. Murphy’s law in full force.
So I suggest you think of this soup as a reminder of sunny and colorful days to come.
The last time I had gazpacho was a few years ago, and I have no idea why I never made it again. It’s my absolute favorite cold soup in the world, there’s no contest, it always wins.
I suspect there are as many ‘right’ ways of making gazpacho in Spain as there are of making the ‘right’ meat empanadas here, so let’s not get into any details about whether this one is or not a true and traditional one. It is so good it doesn’t matter.
The recipe has what I believe to be the typical ingredients of Andalusian gazpacho, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, cucumber, green peppers and stale bread, this last one being a controversial one from what I heard. But I don’t care.
That’s why I call it a bread and tomato soup gazpacho style.
Because it is exactly that, a bread and tomato soup. With a relish. This was served at a Chez Panisse anniversary, so I figured it would be a good recipe. I didn’t use the ancho chile it specified, because I couldn’t find any. It was made by David Tanis and Russell Moore and published by Saveur.
Me, bread and fresh tomatoes go way back. I would come from school, a million and a half years ago, and eat a tomato mayo french bread sandwich as the ultimate snack. And I can’t count the times I’ve made a plain tomato salad with olive oil, salt and vinegar only to sop up the juices in the end with some fresh bread.
There’s some chopping, grating, mixing and refrigerating involved. That’s it. That’s all you do to get a fresh, crunchy, silky, piquant chilled soup that greatly improves if you use seasonal, organic tomatoes. I believe if you have your own plant of tomatoes this would be a different flavor in the best possible way.
I don’t have a garden, much less a tomato plant, and still it is wonderful with regular market tomatoes. It has the right amount of garlic and vinegar, just the way I like gazpacho to be.
The bread and tomato soup is better served cold, not long after it is made, but giving it 15 or 20 minutes in the fridge to let the tomatoes release their juice. It can also be blended and served in a glass, which is the way I have mine when I’m alone.
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A tomato cold soup with garlic, bread and cucumbers, this is the answer to hot summer days.
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Ingredients
For the soup:
- 1 ½ cup crustless day-old country white bread
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 pounds round tomatoes (halved)
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 6 country bread slices (toasted)
For the relish:
- 2 cups round tomatoes (quartered, seeded and diced)
- ½ cup cucumber (peeled, seeded and diced)
- ½ cup red onion (diced)
- ½ cup green peppers (deveined and diced)
- Fresh parsley leaves (a handful)
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 to 3 Tbs sherry vinegar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ garlic clove (minced (optional))
Instructions
For the soup:
- In a bowl, cover the bread with cold water and soak a few minutes, until bread is soft. Squeeze excess water and transfer bread to a large bowl.
- With a big holed grater, grate each tomato half over the bowl with the bread, until you only have the skins left.
- In a mortar with a pestle, or a kitchen board with a big knife, mash garlic with salt, until you have a wet paste.
- Add to tomatoes and bread and mix. Add olive oil, mix well, check seasonings, cover and refrigerate.
For the relish:
- In a bowl mix all ingredients.
To serve:
- Laddle bread and tomato soup equally among bowls or soup plates.
- Add a few Tbs relish on top of each and serve with a piece of toasted bread.
- You can also blend the soup, the way I do. I like to drink it.
Notes
The better and more in season the tomatoes, the better tasting this recipe will be.
I add the garlic in the relish and sometimes more vinegar because that’s how I like gazpacho. But you can mellow it if that’s your taste. And also add a minced chili if you want an extra kick.
If you feel you need more tomato juice and pulp, by all means, add an extra tomato.
Keywords: gazpacho, cold soup, tomato soup
barely adapted from The Best American Recipes 2002-2003, by F. McCullough and M. Stevens
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
February 28, 2013 at 13:38Even though we have feet of snow on the ground, I enjoyed the photos of your gazpacho. I will be starting tomato seeds in a couple of weeks and dreaming of making this soup with heirloom tomatoes picked fresh from the garden.
Laura Hunter says
February 28, 2013 at 11:52This sounds like a perfect summer soup
chatteringkitchen says
February 28, 2013 at 10:08The colors look so wonderful. I love tomato soup, have to try your version
Family Foodie says
February 28, 2013 at 03:30I could eat this soup every day of the week… and I just might, now that you shared your beautiful recipe!
Andrea_TheKitchenLioness says
February 26, 2013 at 08:34Paula, I have never made a gazpacho before but I have eaten some, of course – to me it always looks like "summer in a soup bowl" and your version of this summery cold soup sounds very tasty. Wonderful pictures of the soup as well – they really make the soup look so bright and healthy!