Gazpacho: A Perfect Summer Soup

Gazpacho is one of those soups that a lot of people think they don't like just because it's cold. I often serve it at summer dinner parties because it takes five minutes to make, it doesn't heat my kitchen, and it introduces people who wouldn't otherwise try a cold soup to what is probably my most favorite Spanish dish. I recently served it to my parents when they visited along with arroz al horno, and my dad, who is notoriously anti-vegetables (with good reason if you've ever heard the horror stories about my grandmother's food "experiments") actually asked for more!

I make it the way I learned when I lived with a madrileño family in Valencia as an au pair. The grandmother insisted that gazpacho should be strained after blended, but if you use a good food processor and let it go for a while, you don't have to dirty another bowl/utensil. I've also heard of people adding bread to their gazpacho--this may be traditional, but not how my "family" made it. And one last piece of advice: make this only when you can get from-the-garden tomatoes--it makes a huge difference!

¡Buen provecho!

Mindy's Gazpacho
Serves 4

2 large tomatoes, quartered
1/2 large cucumber, cut into a few large pieces
1/2 medium onion, halved
1/2 bell pepper, cut into a few large pieces
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
A couple of glugs of extra virgin olive oil
1 glug red wine vinegar (start at about a teaspoon and add to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the vegetables into a food processor and process until smooth. Add the olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper and whir again. Taste to see if you need to add any one vegetable to balance the flavor. (But don't get too crazy here...the flavors marry over the course of the chilling, so it will balance out some on its own.) Chill for at least an hour and up to a day. It tastes better the longer you can chill it. Serve with homemade croutons.

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