Gazpacho

From the one star french chef Patrick Asfaux

asfaux Soups 0 Comments

4.8/5 (12 votes)

Prepare time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 0 minutes
Total time : 10 minutes

Gazpacho is a cold soup that is very refreshing on a hot summer day. It comes from Spain.
The name gazpacho comes from the Arabic for soaked bread and was used to be served in a clay bowl.
There are almost as many recipe as Spanish provinces.
In the past Spanish muleteers were used to bring with them a clay bowl, few tomatoes and one or two cucumbers, some dry garlic, a flask of olive oil and a rusk. When hungry, they stopped on the side of the road and mashed the lot and pour a good dash of olive oil on it. The rest is quite peculiar : when they had finished preparing the recipe, they wrapped the bowl in a wet piece of cloth and placed it in the sun. When the cloth was dry the gazpacho was ready.
There is my recipe for gazpacho, it will probably bring on some controversy, but it was approved by a good friend of mine and great Spanish Chef Sergio del Eygrestome, so...

Gazpacho recipe for 6 people :

1 kg ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1 Spanish onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper and green pepper finely diced
1 cucumber, peeled, cored and finely diced
3 cloves garlic, cored and crushed
10 cl Spanish olive oil
salt and ground cayenne pepper
100 g bread crumb

Progression

1) Mix the tomatoes and garlic.
2) Very slowly add in the olive oil with a wooden spoon. Then, add the onion, peppers and cucumber dices. Season to taste and stir in the bread crumb.
3) Add half a litre of iced water, cover and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Serve with few small slices of grilled baguette bread.

To finish, there are my usual variations for this recipe :
- It is delicious served with few dices of avocado,
- Or some grilled tiger prawns,
- And, a must, served with few dices of lobster.

credits photo : © Asfaux Patrick - A.F.Touch