Thursday, July 31, 2014

Spanish Gazpacho Soup


Waiter this soup is cold!

this lens' photo 

This is a delightful chilled soup, for the foot-swelling heat of the searing summer months.

There are hundreds of variations of Gazpacho soup from different regions of mainland Spain. All be it only small differences and usually in the guise of mum's recipe version. Here are some facts and a great recipe from España. buen provecho!

Andalusians claim gazpacho soup was invented in their region, where as others, claim it was originally made by the Arabs when they occupied the Iberian peninsular. The problem with that theory is, the last of the Arabs left Spain as the result of the Recoquista the same year as Christopher Columbus and his explorers discovered sweet and hot peppers in the West Indies and the tomato in South America in 1492. These key ingredients were later disseminated to many parts of the Mediterranean area by the 16th century.

Another claim suggests it had probably evolved from Ajoblanco, a cold soup with bread crumbs, chopped garlic, almonds, olive oil and vinegar with the addition of chilled water, usually served with grapes or slices of melon.

Add pepper, tomato and well, you can see the similarities. 

Ingredients Andalusia


 

2 kg ripe tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
½ a large onion
½ a large green pepper ½ a large red pepper.
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
20 ml of white wine vinegar ½ cucumber
1 cored apple
3 hard boiled eggs
½ pint of cold water 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 ice cubes (optional)

Preparation:

Wash the tomatoes, peeled, de-seed and dice with the other solid ingredients: apple, onion, garlic, cucumber and peppers. If you use a powerful food processor, no need to peel them. Once blended, add gradually the oil, vinegar, salt and water slowly, emulsifying.

The amounts of oil, vinegar and salt are to taste. Be mindful that if you add ice, you should add a little more vinegar and salt to taste.

It is important to note that:

The apple and onion soften the acidity of the tomato
The red pepper gives it a more intense red colour
It is advisable to use a good quality wine vinegar.

You can serve in a separate bowl or garnish with diced tomato, green pepper, red pepper, cucumber, celery, hard boiled eggs and croutons or tortilla chip.
Or simply drink the soup with added Vodka to create a Bloody Carmen. 

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