Cold soup for hot weather
December 6 is Gazpacho Day and, just for once, it's a celebration that suits the climate of the southern hemisphere.
CHAMBERS Dictionary defines ‘gazpacho’ as ‘a spicy Spanish vegetable soup, served cold’, which gives plenty of scope for one’s gastronomic imagination.
The Food and Wine website offer some interesting variations, including fruit gazpacho, watermelon gazpacho and cherry gazpacho with basil.
The white gazpacho is, however, a bit confusing, as the preamble reads: ‘Most people think tomato when they hear gazpacho, but there’s no tomato in sight here. This healthy recipe calls for cauliflower, cucumber and almonds.’ But, when you click on the recipe, it proclaims that it is made with apples, grapes, almonds and cucumber. It also calls for rather a lot of soggy bread – no cauliflower.
Perhaps it’s best to stick to the traditional gazpacho.
Ingredients
1,5kg tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
1 seedless cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 red bell peppers, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and coarsely chopped
¼ cup sherry vinegar
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and refrigerate overnight.
In a blender, puree the vegetables until smooth. Strain the soup into a deep bowl, season with salt and pepper, and serve. For gazpacho with a little crunch, serve with diced tomatoes, cucumbers and red peppers, or some crostini on the side.
Before the Spanish arrived in Mexico in the 1500s, they had never even seen a tomato, much less cooked with one. The Old Country gazpacho got its colour from cucumbers. The green version is still preferred over the red in some quarters.
Green Gazpacho with Shrimp
Ingredients
1 small loaf country-style white bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 6 cups)
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1½ cups water, more if needed
3 cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and chopped
½ onion, chopped
2 teaspoons sliced almonds
2 cloves garlic
2 cups seedless green grapes
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
500g shrimps, shelled and halved lengthwise
Method
In a medium glass or stainless-steel bowl, combine 3 cups of the bread cubes with the vinegar. Add the water; set aside 5 minutes to soften.
In a blender, combine the cucumbers, onion, almonds, 1 clove of the garlic, and 1 cup of the grapes. Add the soaked bread, the ½ cup olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Puree until smooth. Put the soup in the refrigerator to chill for about 20 minutes, or up to several hours.
Meanwhile, in a large nonstick frying pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over moderately high heat. Add the shrimp and the remaining 1 clove garlic and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimps are just done, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon.
Reduce the heat to moderate and add the remaining 3 cups of bread cubes. Cook, stirring frequently, until the bread is crisp and golden, about 5 minutes.
Here the written recipe ends, but the photograph makes it clear that the remaining grapes (halved) should be added as a topping, along with the shrimps and croutons. What to do with the remaining teaspoon of salt is left to your imagination.
(Quantities, converted from Imperial to metric measure, are approximate.)
