There are a lot of ways of preparing
gazpacho, feel free to experiment and to add ingredients as you wish. Above all, the origins of
gazpacho were as a
poor's cold soup, a cheap and easy way to prepare meal for the
campesinos in
Andalucia,
Spain.
I grew up drinking a lot of gazpacho (my grandfather used to call me Daniel Gazpacho), and I still prepare a big bowl of gazpacho in the hottest days of the summer. My take at gazpacho is quite personal, as I like it in its simplest way:
Ingredients
- Ripe tomato
- Cucumber
- Stale bread (aprox 100 grs)
- Olive oil
- Vinegar
- Salt
- Garlic
- Fresh water (avoid using tap water if you live in a city)
Preparation:Peel the tomatoes, and if you have time, take out the seeds. Put the stale bread in water. Peel the cucumber and make two halves of it.
Now take a mortar or a similar container and put the tomatoes, two or three garlic gloves, half cucumber, the bread and mix it with an electric mixer until you have a pink (it will be more reddish depending of how ripe are the tomatoes) paste.
Put salt (three teaspoon), vinegar (like four or five tablespoon, I like it strong) and a lot of good olive oil. Continue mixing and add the water. Some people like it thick (add less water), some like it with a strong vinegar flavour, correct with salt, oil or water, and taste it until you feel is "ok".
Then chop and add the other half cucumber.
Put it in the fridge and wait three or four hours before drinking it.
I usually make two or three litres of gazpacho that I consume over a week, and I like the fact that over the days, the gazpacho becomes tastier.
Remember that there's nothing written in stone about gazpacho, just make sure you don't use tomato juice!